Team MO KAN Going to Transplant Games Birmingham 2024 [Video]

In just about a month, The Transplant Olympic Games are scheduled to be played in Birmingham, Alabama. The games are a bi-annual, multi-sport festival event for individuals who have undergone organ, eye and tissue transplant surgeries. Thousands of people from all 50 states and abroad will gather to unite, honor the families who have given the gift of life and raise awareness of organ, eye, and tissue donation and transplantation. The games will feature 20 competitions and more than 60 special events and programs.

One of those competitors is Amber Pettis, who received a kidney transplant in 2015 and has medaled several times over in these events since. She’s one of three transplant patients from The University of Kansas Health System who are taking part in this year’s games who gathered to sign the Transplant Games flag, which is making its way across the country. The other transplant patients participating in the games are Anja Schlagel and David Kling.

In the video, Schlagel, Kling, and others are shown signing the Transplant Games Flag. Also, Amber describes her experience in receiving a liver transplant and her determination to compete in the Transplant Games, which she did six months later. She also has a message for those who may be considering giving the gift of a kidney, and how she’ll be forever grateful to her donor.

:00-:51 – VO of staff at the University of Kansas Health System Center for Transplant signing Transplant Games Flag
:52-2:05 – VO of Anja Schlagel and Dave Kling signing Transplant Games Flag at the University of Kansas Cancer Center campus in Westwood, followed by care team members signing.
2:06 -6:30 – Kidney transpant recipient and team MO/KAN member Amber Pettis talks about competing in the games and why organ donation is so important.