REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE 10TH HEART AND LUNG TRANSPLANT GAMES
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE 10TH HEART AND LUNG TRANSPLANT GAMES, BURLINGTON HOTEL, DUBLIN 4
Dia dhíbh a cháirde. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh tráthnóna ar an ócáid speisialta seo.
Good evening everybody,
It is a great honour and pleasure for me to be here with you today to open the Tenth European Heart and Lung Transplant Games. As Patron of the Irish Heart and Lung Transplant Association, I say a heartfelt Céad Míle Fáilte, one hundred thousand welcomes to each of you, competitors, organizers and supporters alike. I hope that the games will prove to be everything you had wished and hoped for.
It is a particular honour and privilege for Ireland to host these Games. I am old enough to remember the first heart transplant and that early pioneering work of Dr. Christian Barnard. Who then could have conceived of Games such as these, a showcase as they are of the skill of surgeons and nurses, the generosity of donors and their families and above all the utterly indomitable spirit of the athletes, each of whom has faced death, each of whom has transcended the most serious of illnesses. The Games have flourished since their beginnings in the Netherlands in 1989 and with the spirit that is evident here today they will surely flourish in the years ahead, bringing hope and achievement, friendships and respect for what a short time ago might have seemed the world’s most unlikely group of athletes.
We offer a huge welcome and a lot of admiration today to the participants from eighteen countries who will compete in track and field athletics, golf, swimming, cycling, tennis, volleyball, badminton and table tennis. They bear witness to all that is best in the human spirit and they make this event a celebration of all those who created this second chance for life and all those who use it so joyfully. In a very powerful way they tell a story of triumph and they invite others, even in their health or in their grief to consider organ donation, to make themselves part of this uplifting story.
The theme for these Games is “Saving Lives and Celebrating Life” and it is particularly apt that they should be in Ireland this year when only three months ago saw the formal opening of the National Lung Transplant Unit in the Mater Hospital here in Dublin. Already its pre-operative assessments and post-transplant follow-ups are making a difference and we look forward to the development of its transplant programme, knowing how complex and demanding that provision will be but also how crucial.
The success of the Lung Transplant programme, just like other transplant programmes, will depend to a large extent on the availability of suitable donors. Thankfully, Ireland has a high rate of organ donation, and we know from international experience that the rate of lung donation is likely to increase when the Irish Lung Transplant programme is up and running. These Games have a vital role in raising public awareness of the life-enhancing, often life-giving gift that donors present to others.
In ancient days, from the heroes of old Ireland to the Troy of Achilles and Hector, it was a mark of a hero to make great and generous gifts. Some cynics tell us the age of heroes is over but it is not and these Games say so emphatically for they are founded on the generous gift of life and the most inspirational use of that gift.
I congratulate the many support organisations across Europe who have work tirelessly to guarantee the participation of their competitors and I particularly want to thank Terry Mangan and his dedicated team for all the hard work they have put in over the last months and indeed years to organise this very significant event. Out of it will come great memories, medals to signify a win, respect to signify effort, friendships to last a lifetime, a renewed interest in organ donation and a re-energizing of all those involved in advancing transplant research and surgery.
I sincerely hope that all of you, whether participant or supporter will enjoy the Games for that is their ultimate aim. I wish each competitor the best of luck. Have fun in Dublin.
Go n-éirí go geal libh. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.