In Missouri and Kansas, nearly 2,500 people are in need of an organ or tissue transplant.
Chris Paxton, a Kansas City resident who received a kidney transplant from his father in 1995, has been competing in the Transplant Games of America for over two decades.
The bi-annual competition, which runs this year from July 5-10 in Birmingham, Alabama, is a national Olympic-style event that celebrates transplant recipients, donors and their families.
Paxton, who is leading a team of participants from Missouri and Kansas this year, told KCUR’s Up To Date that the Transplant Games bring awareness to the acute need for more organ and tissue donors.
“What we find is that cities that host the Games, they generally see an increase in their donor registry numbers," Paxton says. "And so the primary goal is to show the success of transplantation and of those recipients who receive the gift of life."
- Chris Paxton, kidney transplant patient and participant at the Transplant Games of America
- Nichole Asquith, community engagement coordinator with the Midwest Transplant Network
