Eagleton soars to strike gold at Transplant Games

A jubilant Rachel Eagleton returned to her home in Bettystown this week with two gold medals and one silver from the 5th European Transplant and Dialysis Games in Wurzburg, Germany. Twenty-two year-old Rachel won her two gold medals on the tennis court. Having captured the singles title, she later teamed up with Valerie Twomey from Cork to add the doubles to her collection. She also won a silver medal for her part in the 4x100 relay at the games. Rachel, who hails from Eastham Road in Bettystown, is a daughter of Gladys and Tom Eagleton and and is currently studying for a Business Degree in DIT Aungier Street in Dublin, where she will start her third year next week. She competed in the World Transplant Games in Canada in 2005 where she won medals for tennis and, in Bangkok in 2007, where she won a gold medal in bowling and a bronze in tennis. She was delighted with the reception the Irish team received when they arrived back in Dublin on Monday. There was a huge crowd waiting for us at the airport, waving flags and cheering. 'It was very exciting,' she said. Rachel received a kidney transplant in 1996. 'The illness came on suddenly. Within a week, I got sick and was brought to Temple Street Children"s Hospital where it was discovered I was suffering from renal failure,' she said. 'I was on home dialysis for a year. It was for 12 hours every night but I was young so it didn"t bother me. I was on the transplant list for eight months which is good compared to others.' She believes the games are a great promotion for organ donation awareness and they show what a huge difference sport can make to people"s lives. 'The games are a great promotion for organ donation. It is a chance for us to show what we can do and show what can be achieved through organ donation. There is a dire shortage of organs for donation,' she said. Rachel also was diagnosed with non-Hodgkinsons lymphoma in October 2005 and finished treatment in March 2006, but now she is in excellent health and is looking forward to competing in the World Games in Australia next year and the European Games which will take place in Dublin in 2010. She plays tennis twice a week all year round in preparation for the competitions.