About Terry Nelson
Terry Nelson, a former midfield player with Liverpool FC was forced to retire from the game through repetitive injury. Having left football he began a career as a paratrooper but was devastated to receive the news that he would face death within six months due to kidney failure unless he had an urgent transplant. He refused to believe the diagnosis, continued hard training, came close to death and was forced on to kidney dialysis for the next 2.5 years. In 1988 his brother, Dean, gave up his own military career and donated one of his kidneys.
To repay his brother he decided to become the fittest transplant patient in the world. He began running and 15 months after the transplant he completed the London Marathon. He swept the board at the 1992 British Transplant Games by winning gold medals in the 400m, 1500m and 5000m. He was then selected to run for Great Britain at the World Transplant Games in Vancouver, Canada in 1993.
Sadly, 12 months later and only 6 weeks before the World Championships, he was again told his transplant was rejecting. Searching for a way to keep his running dream alive, he found the answer in a magazine article from the USA about aqua jogging. He sent off for the equipment which would enable him to begin intensive running and training in the deep end of the local swimming pool.
Fit to Compete
With guidance from Dr. Malcolm Brown of the GB Olympic Team, he progressed so well that within 6 weeks his foot had healed and he convinced the medical staff that he was fit to compete.
He won Gold and became the 5000m World Transplant Champion (the toughest event in which a transplant athlete can compete) in a time of 15min 59secs.
After this success he came back to England and a week later ran in the British Transplant Games where he picked up two more gold medals at 1500m and 5000m, but by then he was seriously ill and forced back on to dialysis.
In March 2004 Terry had his second transplant, following which he decided to focus on training - putting to use the skills, experiences and knowledge he developed whilst running in the pool. He is widely regarded as the UK’s leading expert on deep water running.