young people who have spent their lives fighting for survival.

A team of five young kidney patients from Southampton General Hospital – known as the Organators – triumphed at this year’s British Transplant Games, returning home with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Sam Woolley, 18, Jake Haven, 17, Jordan Gaffney, 16, Jamie Pearce, 11 and nine-year-old Ben Woods all competed in a range of sports at the annual competition in Kent.

But their sporting trip was only made possible thanks to the generosity of the local community, which helped to raised funds to get the team to Kent in their very own kit.

Sarah Grylls, paediatric nephrology clinical nurse specialist, said: “Our trip to the British Transplant Games was hugely rewarding for our team. The boys have all had a long journey through treatment and face challenges every day that most of us will not experience in our lifetime.

“You would not believe howbig the smile can be on the face of a young man who has won his first ever medal. We would like to say a very big thank you to everyone who helped us to get to the games and we are now looking forward to next year, when we hope to take an even bigger team to Sheffield.”