Offaly man wins on the double at european transplant games

Offaly’s only representative at the European Transplant and Dialysis Games in Poland earlier this month saw out his 43rd year to great success.

Eddie McAuliffe won bronze in petanque and gold in golf in the competition that ran from August 16-23, before returning home on the last day of the competition to celebrate his birthday with his family.

Though this year’s games were Eddie’s first, he’s been living thanks to a donated kidney from his sister for six years, and dialysis for three years before that again. Long diagnosed with the hereditary polycycstic kidney disease, his condition deteriorated in 2005.

Since getting a new kidney, and with it a new lease of life, Eddie took up golf at his local club. This year he decided to take his hobby up a level, and compete in games that were attended by a 34-strong team from Ireland including former rugby international Richard Costello and former table-tennis champion Mary Sheehan.

“Golf was what I was aiming for,” Eddie explained from his home in Portarlington this week. “I would have been happy with any medal in golf. It was a tough course, but I played decent golf. At one point I thought I’d thrown it away, but I pulled it back on the last couple of holes.”

Along with golf, Eddie chose to take part in the petanque competition in addition, as he wasn’t scheduled to compete in golf until the fourth day of the games.

“I said I didn’t want to be waiting around,” he explained. Having not played much petanque, he was bowled over by winning a bronze medal in his competition on the second day of the games. “It was a complete surprise,” he admitted, modestly putting his win down to “more beginner’s luck than anything else”.

Team Ireland as a whole did well at the games, securing 19 gold medals, 21 silver and 37 bronze at the competition with some 500 participants from 30 countries throughout Europe.

Coming home, Eddie said, was difficult. “It’s hard to get back to normal,” he explained. “At the games there was something to do every day.” His homecoming was made easier by what he described as a “great” reception at Dublin airport however, as well as birthday celebrations in Portarlington with his wife Marcella, daughter Jessica and son Jacob.