Accountant who underwent double lung transplant wins gold.

by Shayoni Sarkar

The man who won six medals at this year's European Heart and Lung Transplant Games had undergone a double lung transplant just 28 months ago.

Nick Condon, a chartered accountant who was representing Great Britain in this year's games in Växjö, Sweden, is a cystic fibrosis sufferer from Northamptonshire. He won gold medals in the 100m and 4km races and tennis, in addition to silver in the 4x100m relay and bronze in both 20km cycling and golf.

“The feeling of achievement is indescribable,” says Mr. Condon. “Just a couple of years ago, I was very much staring death in the face and now I have been able to compete as an athlete in a way that was previously unimaginable.”

The thirty four-year-old was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was two. However, he still enjoyed sports all through his childhood, despite a daily regime of physiotherapy and drugs. As he grew older, his health began to worsen. In 2007, Mr.Condon was given just 18 months to live.

With forty minute physiotherapy sessions every day and sleeping on a ventilator, days were rough. However, just twenty three days after Mr. Condon was put on the lung transplant list, he found a donor.

He says, “My donor made all of this possible and I am very, very grateful to them and to their family although, of course, I don’t know their identity. A point to remember is that although something like 90% of people support the idea of organ donation, only about a quarter are actually registered with the NHS organ donor scheme and I would urge more people to sign up to do so. You could change a life.”

Nick Condon's trip to the Games was part funded by the Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association, a 124 year old Rugby-based charity which helps chartered accountants and their families through difficult and challenging times, providing advice and information as well as emotional and financial support.