She will be attending with 13 other athletes representing B.C. to compete in the Games — an athletic celebration of sport for the transplant community. Transplant recipients, living donors and donor family members from across the country will be gathering in Ottawa in a few days for the biennial Canadian Transplant Games.
The 2024 Games will mark Addison’s sixth time competing in the Canadian and World Transplant Games. She wants to encourage others in the community to attend their first time, adding, “You get to meet other people who have gone through similar things as you, you get to share your story and connect with other transplant recipients; plus, it’s awesome and the food’s not bad.”
I was only three weeks old when I became the first pediatric heart transplant recipient at BC Children’s Hospital. The doctors discovered I had a heart defect and I was immediately placed in the hospital ICU. The care team ran lots of tests and concluded that I needed to join the waitlist for a heart transplant. It was a miracle that a heart became available to me within 72 hours.
Thirteen years later, I feel pretty good and life has been pretty smooth. I have not had any major complications after that first year of my life. I’m able to do a lot of the things I love and I will be starting high school in the fall. I am really looking forward to the Games this summer and going to Washington after that to hike Mount Rainier with my family for my mom’s 50th birthday!
I think it’s important to stay active because I have this new heart and second chance at life. The best way to make the most out of my second chance is to stay active and exercise so it doesn’t go to waste.
I remember being active my whole life, always playing games and running around with my friends. In the wintertime, I enjoy skiing with my dad and little sister Charlie and I also play with her a lot. We also go hiking year-round with my family.
I have participated in quite a few World and Canadian Transplant Games. I started when I was four years old. I have great memories of the past Games and I want to continue experiencing them, and I get to travel the world. I’ve been to Argentina in 2015, Spain in 2017, Vancouver in 2018, Newcastle, United Kingdom in 2019, Perth, Australia in 2023 and we are planning on going to Germany in 2025 for the next World Games. My recent Games in Perth was pretty fun but Vancouver was my favourite because all of my family came to cheer me on.
In Ottawa, I am competing in the 50m front crawl, 50m back crawl, 100m sprint, long jump and ball throw events. I have competed in all of these events in the past and have been practicing my long jump and ball throw with my dad, and keeping up with my general fitness training. My hopes are pretty high because not that many kids are competing, so I’d like at least one medal. Other than that, I just like having fun! In the future, I would love to try competing in darts or triathlon but at the moment, I am too young to compete in those events.
I like the planned family fun nights during the Games. One time in Spain, they even had a really, really long slide! That was the best.
I also really enjoy trading pins with other people and adding all the pins to my special pencil case where I keep them all. We also just got a special medal hanger that we put up this weekend in our house, and we hung a few of my medals up!
I love being able to make friends with other kids at the Canadian and World Transplant Games. I have made quite a few new friends and still write to them. I really connected with another girl from Australia who is a heart and lung transplant recipient. We talk to each other a lot – it’s just so nice to connect with other people who are transplant recipients.
I am very lucky because I have actually met the mother of my donor Audrey. Auntie Felicia, that‘s what I call her, came from Reno to Vancouver to the Canadian Transplant Games in 2018 to see me compete. I got to meet her two younger daughters too.
For every Games, I choose a medal to send to Auntie Felicia. I think of it as me and Audrey competing together and winning these medals together.
I would say to Auntie Felicia thank you for giving me this incredible gift that has allowed me to do so many things that I love, including going to the Games. I hope that I can win more medals in Ottawa to send to you.
