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Headline: The Ultimate Iron Man: Athlete With Cerebral Palsy Who Has Had Renal Failure And Two Kidney Transplants
Caption: WORDS BYLINE: Seamus Duff When Alessio Verrecchia was just a baby, he was rushed in and out of hospital as his tiny body endured chronic kidney failure. Placed on a transplant list, he waited until a donor was found. Then, at just one year old, he underwent a life-saving transplant. This marked the beginning of a life shaped by health struggles that would break many, but Alessio met each one head-on, using his strength and resilience to defy the odds. “I don't remember that time, which I'm quite grateful for,” Alessio says, while reflecting on his first kidney transplant. “I was quite ill as a baby due to my kidneys. I was on dialysis and made multiple hospital trips for various things. But after my transplant, my health stabilised for most of my childhood, which was good.” While still an infant, Alessio was also diagnosed with cerebral palsy – a neurological condition that can affect movement, coordination, and muscle control. And as a toddler, he was diagnosed with an eye condition that has impacted his vision, leading to a diagnosis of visual impairment. “The kidney side of stuff, I didn't really think about it too much while growing up,” Alessio, now 28, explained. “I had hospital check-ups every few months and, as I said, everything was stabilised, so there were no dramas or anything. In general, I think the visual impairment and cerebral palsy in my legs affected me more day to day. I thought about that a lot more than my kidney.” It was in his childhood that Alessio had his first experience with the British Transplant Games – a four-day annual sporting event, organized by Transplant Sport, which brings together transplant recipients, living donors and donor families to celebrate the gift of life through sport. Attending his first games at the age of six, Alessio, a coach from Cambridge, has fond memories of taking part in tug-of-war matches, 50-meter races, and dashing through obstacle courses. With regular check-ups on his kidneys, Alessio was told in 2012 that his original transplant was deteriorating. He was placed on the transplant waiting list a second time and doctors monitored his condition as they confirmed he would need the organ to be replaced again. However, he didn’t need to wait long. “I was quite fortunate, because I was only on the list for a week,” he recalls. “I remember the day I got the call, November 13th, and it was a Tuesday. I was a bit panicky, and I remember my neighbour at the time, from a very lovely family, said, ‘Don’t worry, Alessio. It’s all part of the process.’ “She calmed me down a lot, and then the day itself was quite dragged out. There were a lot of blood tests on me, tests on the donor. It wasn’t until the evening that I actually had the transplant.” Unlike his first transplant, Alessio vividly remembers the second – and the how things took a dramatic turn. “There were a few hiccups after this transplant,” he recounts. “My morphine pump leaked inside my body, so there was a massive overdose. One second, I was chilling with a few doctors and with my mum was in the room, and the next, I'm completely out and waking up in ICU. Which was not fun. I was in hospital for two weeks.” After recovering from his second operation, Alessio returned to the British Transplant Games where he has competed almost every year since 2014 as part of the Nottingham team – having received his transplants in the city. While his days of taking part in the tug-o-war are behind him, he competes in a range of other sports – while his passion for football has led him to taking part in competitions more local to Cambridge, where he lives, and taking on various leadership roles. “Growing up with three brothers, I really got into football and in 2016 started attending a cerebral palsy session with Cambridge United,” he explains. “As I continued to go to those sessions I got more responsibility. We managed to create a visually impaired team, which achieved quite a high standard. We managed to get to a national league and had a lot of fun competing around the country.” The numbers in the visually impaired team eventually dropped to Alessio and his friends Zoe and David. The trio went on to form a pan disability team within Cambridge United. One year later they left United and joined with a grassroots club called Histon Hornets. Since starting the club Alessio has captained the side to numerous league trophies and now helps coach the inclusive kids’ team both in training and on matchdays. However, this is not the only way Alessio is contributing to his community, as he is also a volunteer at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) where he organises social events, coordinates forums that bring together local businesses and charities to raise awareness. He has also recently joined the local Goalball team, Cambridge Dons – with Goalball being an energetic three-a-side sport that sees teammates working together to score goals while blindfolded. Thinking of the future, Alessio plans to become an engineer – having studied GCSEs at school and completed an engineering apprenticeship in 2023 towards this goal. “I want to specialise in design and mechanical engineering,” he explains. “I’ve got a love for computer aided design, 3D modelling and 3D printing which I did in my apprenticeship and now do as a hobby. Footballing, coaching, and volunteering has kind of taken over, but that's what I want my career to be, hopefully in the near future.” He also has his mind focused on the 2025 British Transplant Games which will be taking place in Oxford this summer, where he will be competing in running events including the one hundred meters and a five-kilometre race, ten-pin bowling, snooker and, of course, football. While Alessio rarely thinks about his kidneys in daily life, he admits that his health challenges sometimes weigh on him. “Growing up, I was treated in a different way, but in positive ways. Everyone tried to help me, which is good,” he says. “And then having grown up, I think cerebral palsy has affected me physically and mentally. I’ve become a lot more aware of my limitations, and sometimes it gets to me. But I know the biggest barrier is mindset. You take it day after day and try and improve. That's all we can do.” The 2025 British Transplant Games take place in Oxford from July 31 – August 3. For more information about the event, visit http://britishtransplantgames.co.uk.
Keywords: feature,photo feature,photo story
PersonInImage: Alessio Verrecchia