Cynon Valley teen who had life-saving transplant prepares to swim at World Transplant Games
A teenage swimmer who was diagnosed with a life threatening condition when she was just four years old is preparing to take to the world stage.
Cerys O'Connell, 14, from Mountain Ash, Cynon Valley, will be flying out to Australia next week to represent the UK in the World Transplant Games.
Cerys was only a child when she was diagnosed with a life threatening medical condition called Severe Aplastic Anaemia.
She required a bone marrow transplant and her sister, Megan, 13, was the perfect match.
Cerys and her parents will be going to Perth next week, where the games are taking place.
They are held to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation, and to encourage transplant patients to regain their fitness.
Cerys said it was "crazy" to be selected as a member of Team GB.
She added: "I don't think I registered it until about an hour after."
Cerys is a member of the Nexus Valley Swimming Club and she has already achieved sporting success.
The teenager represented Wales in the British Transplant Games last year. She won three gold medals and one silver in swimming.
Before that, she participated in the same competition two years earlier in Newport, where she won two gold medals and a bronze.
Cerys and her family have raised more than £7,700 to cover the cost of her trip, after setting up a JustGiving page.
Cerys told ITV News that she swims four times a week and it was "difficult" to get back into the rhythm of swimming after undergoing chemotherapy and receiving the transplant.
She added: "I was a lot more tired than I used to be, since I hadn't been out very often. Walking around a room, you don't get much exercise. It was hard, but you get over it."
Her father, Alun O'Connell, said: "The World Transplant Games, 10 years ago when we first found out Cerys was ill, would have been the last thing on our minds.
"To come that far, she's done fantastically well. She's very dedicated and committed."
Her mother, Lisa, said Cerys' diagnosis was "devastating" for the family.
She said being pregnant and trying to look after Cerys' sister, Megan, was "hard".
A decade on and Lisa is "incredibly proud" of how far her daughter has come, having to re-learn to swim, and now preparing to take to the world stage.
Recalling a memory from school, Cerys said: "I remember one day in school, we had to come into school dressed up as what we wanted to grow up as.
"I came into school in my bathers and dressing gown, saying I wanted to be an olympic swimmer."
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