Inverness Fire Service employee Duncan MacAulay hopes to prove there is life after transplants by creating Scotland football team to compete in European Championships
While Duncan MacAulay is somewhat used to defying the odds, even he admits the last few months have been a major learning curve.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service employee from Inverness has set up a football team to compete at European Championships in April. That in itself would be enough of an achievement if it were not for the fact that the team is made up entirely of transplant recipients.
After seeing the 2024 World Cup for transplant football, Mr MacAulay wondered why there was no Scotland team. He got in touch with the organisers who told him that nobody had come forward to organise one, and decided to take the mantle on himself.
That was in September last year, but things have grown exponentially since then. Monthly training sessions have been held in the central belt featuring people travelling from all corners of Scotland, and they played their first friendlies in Birmingham last weekend, winning one match 2-0 and losing two more after a frantic weekend of missing kit and late call-offs.
However, for My MacAulay, who had a heart transplant himself in February 2023, this team has the potential to be about so much more than just football.
“When I thought about it, I realised that if we did get a good enough group of players that we could compete, we would be giving back by honouring the donor families,” he explained.
“I’ve learned a lot over the process, and I realised we could make a difference and open up the conversation about organ donation.
“It’s not a conversation I would have had if someone asked me about wanting to go on the organ donor register – I just would have said I would worry about that later – but it’s important to have the conversation.
“In my head I was thinking I have to be one of the luckiest people alive. I’ve had a heart transplant, so how did I get away with this? Now that I’ve been lucky, maybe I can help others make a difference.
“My transplant has given me the opportunity to do that. I’ve been lucky, so let’s make the most of this.”
Mr MacAulay had heart failure for four years and suffered multiple cardiac arrests, needing to go through weeks of testing as a result before he was put forward as a candidate – and ultimately a recipient – of a donor heart.
In his case, recovery went smoothly. In fact, if anything he was pushing himself further than he was supposed to with exercise because he was so determined to make the most of his second chance.
As he has found through meeting different people for the Scotland team, though, different types of transplants pose different recovery challenges.
“Heart transplant recipients like myself really have to try and warm up because it takes a lot longer,” Mr MacAulay reasoned.
“Some of the kidney recipients, because they have been on dialysis, have brittle bones. All these are conditions that we have to monitor.
“It’s very early days, but we had our first stem-cell transplant recipient, which again I’m really keen to find out more about.
“There are bone marrow transplants too, which are very important. I understand the Chile team who won the World Cup were all based on stem-cell transplants. For me, as a geek about these things, it’s been fascinating.
“One thing we are all on is this immuno-suppressant medication, so if there are colds or coughs around we will get it. Even if we get a full squad to go, people will have issues. Managing that anti-rejection medication for all types of transplants can be very tough.
“Some people initially have shakes, and I still have a bit of that going on. A big eye-opener for me was the idea of living donors too, I never appreciated that at all.
“Having that conversation with my family is not something I would ever have done, but I didn’t realise how many people can benefit from one person. It’s not something you think about, but it’s a massive amount.”
As a life-long football fan, Mr MacAulay coached youth football in his younger days, but taking a transplant team to the European Championships is an altogether different challenge.
Held at Radley College in Oxford, matches will see seven-a-side teams playing 20-minute halves with rolling substitutions with nations including World Cup runners-up Spain and third-placed England.
While it is a football tournament, though, Mr MacAulay suspects that the entire event will be about far more than just the sport itself.
“We tried hard in the early days of the team to get to this stage, but we also wanted to emphasise aspects of organ donation and the active recovery for people from major surgery,” he added.
“I think for some being at the Euros will be quite emotional. It might seem wrong, but in a way I hope it is emotional – I hope we’re able to say ‘this is my journey, look how far I’ve come’.
“Our team have already come a long way. I’m really hoping that this will be special for all of them, and if it brings out emotions I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
“The fact is that we need to publicise that there is life after transplantation – and donor families should be able to look at us and what we’re doing. I realise it’s tough for them, but the people who have benefitted are embracing life full on and taking every opportunity that will possibly come their way.”