Athlete with donor organ: "Grateful for this life"

Four years ago he received a new liver, today Paul Knüpfer is competing at the World Transplant Games in Dresden. The 34-year-old is competing with other transplant recipients in various sports - golf, table tennis and football - with the 800-meter race still to come on Saturday. "I am very grateful that I can live the life I have," says the Dresden native.

It is a first for Knüpfer: this is the first time he has taken part in the World Transplant Games. And for the first time, the games are being held in Germany. Until August 24, transplanted athletes will be competing in the Saxon state capital in a total of 17 sports, including tennis, cycling, swimming and athletics. Around 2,200 participants and helpers from 51 nations are taking part - including over 1,500 transplanted athletes. They will show what people with a new organ are capable of.

Paul Knüpfer was seventeen years old when he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. "An antibody was discovered in me, my own cells were attacking tissue in my liver." The disease was unstoppable, he was diagnosed with cirrhosis and eventually liver carcinoma. At an age when other young adults are discovering the world, Knüpfer was repeatedly hospitalized and had to take it easy. Since then, he has had to take medication to suppress the activity of his immune system.

Six years ago, the young man was put on the waiting list - after two years of anxious waiting, the time had finally come in April 2021: the longed-for call came at three in the morning - and Knüpfer received a new liver transplant. It felt like salvation, says the 34-year-old. He is glad that it worked out relatively quickly. Many wait longer. According to the Ministry of Health, almost 400 people were waiting for a transplant in Saxony at the end of 2024.

"I'm healthy, it just feels good"

Today, Paul Knüpfer, who now lives in Pirna, says: "I'm healthy, it just feels good." The transplant has changed his life for the better. He can do sport, travel and pursue his dream job: teaching music and history. For him, the World Transplant Games are not about competition, he emphasizes: "It is a successful occasion to thank the people who have decided to donate their organs.

"I am very grateful to the person who made this possible and I often think about this person," says Paul Knüpfer about his unknown donor. He tries to do justice to this to some extent with his lifestyle. He thinks that too little is said about organ donation. That is a big problem. "Thanks to the donated organ, this future is possible for me and I experience my life more consciously than before and more gratefully."