Aodhagan to represent Ireland

A Cavan man will be among the Irish team at the World Transplant Games to be held in the UK this month.

Aodhagan Cullen from Mullahoran underwent a double transplant, kidney and pancreas, in November 2017, at St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin. He is now joining Transplant Team Ireland to represent his country.
The 38 members of Transplant Team Ireland departing for the World Transplant Games gathered at ALSAA Sports Complex Dublin airport recently for a motivational talk by international para athlete Mary Fitzgerald.
Aodhagan is one of the team of 29 men and nine women, ranging in age from 16 to 81, to have undergone organ transplants including heart, lung, liver, bone marrow and kidney operations.
This year is the largest ever Irish Transplant Team travelling abroad. There will be 2,000 participants from over 60 countries taking part in the World Transplant Games 2019 in Newcastle Gateshead, UK, from August 17 to 24.
Aodhagan journey to this point has been a tough road: “I am a diabetic since I was three years of age. I had a lot of trouble with it when I was growing up. Later on, when I was about 10 or 12, they told me my kidneys were giving me trouble.”
He started taking insulin at the age of four years. It worked well for him for the first couple of years, but when the product was taken off the market things changed. He tried several other types and doses of insulin, but none worked well for him. This led to a lot of hospital stays for many years. He became a regular inpatient at Crumlin Children’s hospital from eight years old to his teenage years. He missed a lot of school as a child due to illness.
Now he will represent his country at an international level thanks to the World Transplant Games. Athletes will compete in their respective age categories in the following events: badminton, cycling, darts, golf, petanque, squash, swimming, table tennis, ten pin bowling, tennis, mini-marathon, and track and field.
“I've been training since before Christmas, a lot of the training was in Dublin,” Aodhagan told the Celt, “I will be competing in four events; tennis, javelin, ball throwing and ten pin bowling.”
Members of the Cullen family will be travelling to Newcastle to shout Aodhagan on when he represents Ireland: “I never thought I would get this far. It is a great opportunity.”
He is looking forward to linking up with the rest of the Irish team: “We met in Dublin every couple of weeks as part of the training. Nearly everyone was in Dublin a couple of weeks ago for the official launch.”
This year the team has gratefully received support from Swim Ireland, Athletics Ireland and Irish Squash. The on-going coaching support from Swim Ireland has been particularly welcomed. Astellas Pharma Ltd has again provided some sponsorship towards the costs of running the team.