Virginia Beach girl wins gold medal in U.S. Transplant Games

Sabrina Waide, the 5-year-old Virginia Beach girl who survived a rare, live-donor small intestine transplant, went for the gold this weekend and nabbed it.

She took first place in her swimming race at the U.S. Transplant Games in Pittsburgh, a national event held every two years for transplant recipients. Sabrina swam Sunday against one competitor in the 25-yard freestyle for those 5 and younger.

She followed that win with a fifth-place finish Monday in the 50-meter dash.

People who have had a transplant at least six months are eligible to compete in the U.S. Transplant Games, which are sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation to honor transplant recipients and their donors.

This year's event drew more than 1,3 00 competitors. Sabrina attended with her family as part of Team Virginia, which included 35 transplant recipients from Virginia, along with donors and their families. Participants from West Virginia are also on Team Virginia.

Sabrina was born with a defect in which her small intestine formed on the outside of her abdomen. The organ was reinserted shortly after birth but sustained so much damage she couldn't digest food.

She was a foster child of a Virginia Beach couple, Melissa and Bill Waide, when the girl's birth mother donated part of her small intestine to save Sabrina's life in a rare transplant operation in Chicago in 2004.

The Waides adopted Sabrina the following year.

Dena Reynolds, spokeswoman for LifeNet Health, which coordinates organ recovery and placement in Virginia, said other local winners in the U.S. Transplant Games include:

Heart recipient John McCaughan of Virginia Beach, gold medal in doubles bowling; Arlene Williams of Chesapeake and Peggy Adams of Poquoson, both kidney recipients, bronze medal in doubles bowling; kidney recipient Chris Martorano of Newport News, gold in the 50-yard backstroke, and gold in the 1,500-meter race walk; lung recipient Jeanett Walker of Virginia Beach, gold in women's shot put.

Kidney recipient Bud Steckline of Bluestone, W.Va., won a gold medal in racquetball, which he gave to 14-year-old Jackson Keyes of Chesapeake. Jackson is attending the games with his mother to honor his father, who died in 2004 and was a tissue donor.

The U.S. Transplant Games, which kicked off Friday, will conclude Wednesday.

Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com