Transplant medalist on 'shock' diabetes diagnosis

A badminton player who received a kidney and liver transplant has won a bronze medal at the European Transplant Sports Championships despite a recent diagnosis of diabetes.

Andy Taylor, from Watford, has polycystic kidney disease and in 2016 underwent a kidney and liver transplant.

In December, he was diagnosed type-2 diabetes, induced by the steroid tablets used as part of his transplant recovery.

The 58-year-old said: "That was a shock to me, I thought I hadn't done the best with the organs I received. That was really tough."

Since 2019, Mr Taylor has competed in national, European and world-wide transplant games where he has won medals.

He said the competitions had helped his recovery and been an emotional experience after his donor saved his life.

He said: "You've been given a second chance and you don't want to mess it up.

"To be given that gift you've got to do it justice - either physically or how you behave as a human being.

"To be in a gym where everybody gets it or has been through it, there's such a warmth and level of understanding.

"There's people there that go to compete but everybody there has already won the game of life."

When he was told by doctors he had diabetes he spent the next couple of months in "a bad place", worried he would not longer be able to compete.

"I thought it was going to affect the way I play because they tell you to cut down on carbs, but you need carbs for energy," he said.

"I went on a really hard vegetable diet- but I play three or four times a week, usually in the mornings and a lot of the times I wouldn't get through the session because I didn't have the energy."

He said it had been "quite a challenge" to get to a medal-winning position.

He got advice from his treatment team at King's College at Cambridge University who consulted a sports dietitian and gave him new advice of "you can eat what's right for the event and not the condition".

"Then the rest of the time, I'm careful," he said.

On Wednesday, a couple of weeks after receiving a new diet plan Mr Taylor's wife Kate was in the crowd at the European Transplant Sports Championships in Lisbon to watch her husband win his bronze for the men's doubles.

The medal winner said: "It's always important to have a goal. Mine was to represent Great Britain. To do that is great. It's a medal; it's always good to get a medal.

"We're there to win, win for your country, but also to highlight the benefits of the transplant and show gratitude for your second chance."

Mr Taylor also represented Great Britain in doubles table tennis.

He said after he was beaten "quite convincingly " by a Greek pair, one of his opponents told him: "It's not about winning, it's the fact we're here."

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