Martha Ehlin: A Multi Winner in Life
Would you accept an organ if you needed it? And if so, shouldn’t you also be willing to give? Martha Ehlin asks us the same question that she was confronted with when, at the age of 30, she was diagnosed with cancer in the vital organs.
ABOUT TEDx
TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission, ‘ideas worth spreading’. The programme is designed to give communities, organisations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.
ABOUT Martha Ehlin
“Martha Ehlin was just 30 years old when she was diagnosed with Endocrine Cancer. When a tumour in the pancreas was found she was faced with two choices: chemotherapy for life, or transplant the five organs in the stomach area.
She waited for 6 months before the call from the transplant team came and after an operation that lasted 17 hours she became just the 18th person in Sweden to undergo transplant surgery.
One day while convalescing at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital’s intensive care unit, her father asked her what she wanted to do. Martha replied:
“I want to feel the grass”
As she lay on the grass she decided to come back to life, and that SHE must be the one to do something for herself. Martha’s lucky number is 5. Two years ago now, she received five transplanted organs. She competed at the Gothenburg Transplant Games in June, 2011 and won 5 Gold medals, participating in hockey, ball, high/long jump and javelin.
Her 5 medals represent the gratitude she feels to the donor and the donor’s family plus all those who have supported her, not least of all, the health professionals incl. doctors, the dietitian, kitchen and cleaning staff. Martha is the co-founder with Peter Carstedt of MOD – More organ Donors.”
The VIDEO
RELATED
