By Goya Dmytryshchak
A Laverton husband and wife have returned from their first Transplant Games of America as a married couple with 19 medals between them – but they say they won gold when they found each other.
Terry Holyoak met Californian Anna Modlin at the end of the 2016 games.
Ms Modlin, 37, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 18 months and underwent a lung transplant eight years ago.
Mr Holyoak, 42, was diagnosed with an eye deformity about age 11 and had two corneal transplants between the ages of 21 and 25.
“It was a lot of interest at first sight,” he said of the first time he laid eyes on his future wife.
“It was unexpected but it was good. She was my gold medal from two years ago.”
Ms Modlin said not a day had passed since that first meeting that the two hadn’t spoken.
“I was just doing my competition and I had a whole life and everything completely changed, because I’ve lived 10 miles from my own home where I was born my whole life and then I move here,” she said.
She said the games, held every two years, were life-changing for all participants.
The couple won medals in swimming, trivia, darts and dancing.
They started learning ballroom dancing so they could compete.
“Most people learn to dance before they have their wedding and they have their little dance but we kind of did it backwards,” Ms Modlin said.
They will now compete at the Australian Transplant Games on Queensland’s Gold Coast from September 30 to October 6.
For information on organ donation, visit www.donatelife.gov.au
