SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — The SDCCU Holiday Bowl, Sports San Diego and the Transplant Life Foundation announced Wednesday that April 20 marks the start of the 100-day countdown to the 2022 Donate Life Transplant Games of America in San Diego at the Convention Center.
It's billed as the world's largest celebration of life and it's bringing a lot more than excitement to America's Finest City with approximately 10,000 transplant recipients, caregivers, living donors, donor families, donation and transplant professionals and others to San Diego July 29 to August 3.
The Transplant Life Foundation said the goal of the Transplant Games is to honor the legacy of donors who gave the ultimate gift of life and highlight the need for and importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation to increase the national and state registry numbers.
“Transplantation gives new life to patients with a medical technology that barely existed 50 years ago. Last year alone, there were over 40,000 organ transplants in the United States, and that was a new record.” said Bill Ryan, president and CEO of the Transplant Life Foundation, adding, “along with hundreds of thousands of cornea and tissue transplants annually, this miracle of life has benefitted millions of people over the last decade.”
Sports San Diego and the SDCCU Holiday Bowl secured the bid for San Diego to host the 2022 Games. The event is produced by the Transplant Life Foundation.
“We are honored and proud to be hosting this amazing and impactful event in our hometown,” said the 2022 president of Sports San Diego and the SDCCU Holiday Bowl, Cherry Park. “We look forward to rolling out the red carpet this summer and welcoming this very special group people and helping them pursue such a noble mission.”
Organizers said the Games will feature 20 athletic competitions and approximately 50 other event, including a downtown parade on Saturday, July 30 at 9:00 a.m. that is being sponsored by Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego. Many other local groups are also helping to sponsor the Games including Lifesharing, UC San Diego Health, Sharp HealthCare and the San Diego Tourism Marketing District.
For more information on where the events will take place, click here.
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