Jan 21, 2015 14:50 By Jane Tyler
Transplant patient Judith Thomas marks the anniversary of her life-saving operation by taking part in the Great Birmingham 10k.
Judith ThomasJudith Thomas with her daughter Daisy, 8.
One of the runners taking part in the Great Birmingham 10k will have more reason than most to be raising money for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity.
For the hospital saved the life of Judith Thomas 21 years ago when surgeons there performed a liver transplant on her.
And to thank the hospital, Judith is running 21 races to mark the 21st anniversary of her life-saving operation.
She is joining Team Birmingham and will be among the 1,000-plus runners tackling the Great Birmingham 10k on May 3.
Judith, 38, who is a bank manager at Lloyds, will be travelling from her home in Llanelli, Wales, to take part in the race.
She had a liver transplant at the QE when she fell ill at the age of 17 with Wilson’s Disease, which means her liver produces and stores too much copper.
At first she was treated in a Welsh hospital but , when it became apparent her only chance of survival was a liver transplant, she was moved to the QE.
The operation was a great success and now, 21 years on, Judith is fit and well and married to Paul, 36, who works for Virgin Media, and the couple have an eight-year-old daughter, Daisy.
She said: “It’s the 21st birthday of my transplant and I wanted to give something back to the Birmingham hospital that gave me my life.”
The Great Birmingham 10k is one of several races Judith has got in her diary for this year. She’s doing a half-marathon in March, her first marathon in April, as well as the Birmingham and Cardiff half-marathons.
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