A HEART transplant patient has struck gold in a national sports championships just two years after having his lifesaving operation.

John Dixon, 66, from Monmouth joined more than 1,000 other competitors at the British Transplant Games on the day that England announced its intention to follow Wales’ move to deemed consent for organ donation.

The father-of-three amazed himself and his family by winning gold in the shot put and silver in the discus, with the distance thrown in the first event potentially being long enough to qualify for next year’s World Transplant Games in Newcastle.

Competitiors in Birmingham from August 2 to 5 ranged in age from just three to 80, and took part in more than 25 sports, including athletics, cycling and swimming, with events for both living donors and transplant recipients.

The games, which will be a home event for John in Newport next year, were started in 1978 to promote fitness following transplantation, and have evolved into a four-day celebration of transplant healthcare, donors and recipients.

John’s daughter Lottie said: “With more than 10,000 people in the UK waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, the games showed us just how important a two-minute conversation about your wishes could be.”

Another heart transplant patient who kept up a fit lifestyle was Brian Price from Caldicot, who amazingly ran the Boston Marathon in America in 1985 just 15 months after his operation.

And former Rank Xerox, Mitche­ldean, engineer Steve Syer, 75, is currently thought to be the longest surviving heart transplant patient in the UK 34 years on from his operation.

For further information on the games or organ donation, visit www.britishtransplantgames.co.uk or www.organdonation.nhs.uk