Transplant patients aim to take on the world

A TEAM of medics and transplant patients are preparing to take on the "toughest challenge in team sailing" to promote the potential of organ donations to transform lives.

The 12 people from across the UK are set to take part in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 2011-12.

The team - which includes two kidney transplant patients, a liver transplant patient and a recipient of a double lung transplant - hope the endeavour will promote organ donation on a global stage.

The project is being led by Steve Wigmore, professor of transplantation surgery and the clinical lead for transplantation at the University of Edinburgh.

He said: "It's quite daunting, but it's very exciting at the same time. The whole purpose of doing this is to demonstrate the amazing potential that transplants have.

"A lot of media coverage around organ donation, including what the government puts out, is … all about what would happen if you didn't donate your kidneys to this person.

"We wanted to send out a really positive message so that people could see that if a patient who was really sick gets a transplant, they don't just get a little bit better, it completely transforms their life and they're able to do amazing things."

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race involves identical racing yachts, each crewed by about 20 people. The next race will run from September 2011 to July 2012 and will cover 40,000 miles, visiting 15 countries.

The team of doctors, nurses and transplant patients, known as "transplant ambassadors", will each sail a leg of the race, which starts and finishes in the UK.

Prof Wigmore, along with a transplant patient who was treated in Edinburgh, is set to sail from China to San Francisco in March 2012.