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A footballer from Swansea has said he felt “overwhelmed” with emotion at times while representing Wales at the first ever Transplant World Cup.
James Murphy, who captained the Wales Transplant Team, played alongside his teammates at the international competition that was recently held in the seaside town of Cervia in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.
The 38-year-old lorry driver for Royal Mail, who was able to have a kidney transplant six years ago thanks to the organ donation by his mother, Kathryn Murphy, 64, said the tournament was an “emotional” experience.
The team’s participation in the competition was made possible by a fundraising drive which included a £1,500 donation from pro-independence group YesCymru.
YesCymru Chair, Phyl Griffiths has said he’s “incredibly proud” of what the team has achieved by representing Wales on the world stage.
The team is managed by James’ father, John Murphy, a former Swansea City Centre of Excellence coach.
It played the likes of Ireland, Romania, France, USA, England and Australia, and came 7th overall in the tournament.
A 16 man squad travelled to Italy with 3 coaches, their manager, their treasurer as well as some family members of the players.
Father of three James said: ““The tournament was brilliant. The overall experience as just something else. It was even better than we’d imagined. It was a bit overwhelming at the start but it was a really good experience. It’s really hard to put into words.
“I got to meet people from the other side of the world who have practically been on the same journey as me.
“Although we were opponents on the pitch we were united by similar experiences. As it’s been said, football is a universal language, so in that sense there was no language barrier there. You had Chileans there, Spanish, Italians, French.
“I can’t speak a word of anything but English, but you could communicate through football. You’re pointing to where you’ve had your transplant and they’re doing the same.
“It was an emotional experience. I remember for the first ten minutes after kick off I just wasn’t in the game because once I realised it had started I was really overwhelmed by it. It was almost like an out of body experience.
“All the fundraising, all the work and the training and everything had just come to this point and it had started and I got a bit overwhelmed at the start and a few other players said the same.
“The last day as captain I did a little presentation and we gave a few awards and I gave a captain’s speech and I was fighting back the tears during that because the team had made me so proud to be their captain and the support I had from them as brilliant as well.
“We’re really grateful to the likes of YesCymru for helping with the fundraising and turning this dream of representing Wales on the world stage into a reality.”
YesCymru Chair Phyl Griffiths said: “All of us at YesCymru are incredibly proud of what this team has achieved by representing Cymru at the World Cup in Italy. This remarkable group have made history by flying the flag of Wales on the world stage.
“It is more than a team, and each one of its players is heroic because they’ve all been on tough journeys to get to the tournament.
“They are a powerful support network and social group providing help and opportunities for young people who have had organ transplants, and now that network of support is spreading globally.
“We believe that our strength as a country comes from our communities and the transplant community in Wales is a fine example of that.”
James explained how he found out that his kidneys were failing: “At the time it seemed a bit sudden but there were signs that there was something wrong.
“I was getting tired. I was losing a lot of weight. I was looking pale, and I was just carrying on as you do, thinking that I was fine. I just thought it was part of getting older.
“It wasn’t until I had a lot of family members saying to me that I wasn’t looking right and that I wasn’t myself, urging me to go to the doctor.
“I kept putting it off and putting it off, but eventually I went one day for blood tests, and they got straight back to me that evening saying that I needed to go to see them in the morning. I was told that I was anaemic.
“Overnight more results had come back, so by the time I’d got to the doctor’s in the morning I had a letter waiting for me to send me straight to the hospital where there were specialists waiting for me.
“They ran me through a few tests I found out that my kidneys were on 4% function. The doctors said they’d never seen anyone still walking around with these type of blood test results.
“Once I had a couple of dialysis I felt like a million dollars so I realised how long it must have been going on for then. Dialysis does what the kidney is supposed to do so, it brings you back to where you should be until you have another session in a few days.
“I was waiting 18 months for a transplant. I had a kidney donated to me by my mother. It took 18 months for her to go through all the tests to make sure she was a fit.
“There were a few setbacks along the way where she’d had infections and reached the right markers to be able to donate an organ. So we had a few worrying times and a few frustrating periods but we got there.
“It was never a doubt for her. The moment they said I needed a transplant she said straight away she’d do it. My brother Sam put himself forward as well, but my mum was the best match for me according to the tests they did. So my mum gave me life in the first place and then she gave me my life back.”
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