Vo Thi Thuong -- Vietnam

 Age: 38

 Transplant: Kidney, 1992

 Hometown: Long An Province, Vietnam

 Events: 3KM Road Race, Badminton

Vo Thi's Story: The first thing I would like to do is to send my regards to everybody in the world -- health and happiness. I am a pharmacist technician at the Traditional Hospital of Vietnam Delta Mekong. I live with my husband and two children -- my son who is 16 and my daughter who is seven. I was the first kidney transplant recipient at Cho Ray Hospital and in South Vietnam. After five years of kidney transplantation, I have now returned to an ordinary and useful life. I can support my husband by doing the housework and taking care of my children, so he can earn money. I would hereby present my great thanks to the National Committee of Kidney Transplantation, the professors, and the doctors at Cho Ray Hospital.

Thanks to the love of my father, Vo Van Trong, who gave me one of his kidneys, I have a second life. He saved my husband's spouse and my children's mother.

It is my privelege to represent the kidney transplant recipients in Vietnam by participating in the XI World Transplant Games in Sydney, Australia. My participation is also the result of the great effort by the doctors of Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The organ transplantation program here is still in its beginning stages.

I am presenting my best thanks to the chairman of the athletic association for transplant recipient and the organizing board of the XI World Transplant Games for giving me a chance to join a circle of friendship with the people in my same circumstance worldwide.

My Message to the World: Because of my transplant, I have a chance for having an active life again. So, I would like to call for public awareness to help support other patients.