Mr. Sepehr Sepasi - Swimming Champion
Sepehr Sepasi was born in 1980 in Shiraz. From the age of 8 months, he had kidney failure. As a child, he underwent surgery twice in Iran, and doctors discovered that he was born with a single kidney.
With great difficulty and after obtaining a visa, he went to London and underwent two more surgeries in that city. Doctors told his family that his kidney would not work until he was older due to several surgeries he had at the age of one or two.
Meanwhile, he pursued the sport professionally as a child because of his interest in swimming. Around 1993, he participated in many provincial competitions and became famous. This process continued until 1996, when his kidney disease recurred and reached the point where at the end of 1975, Sepehr’s entire kidney failed and he underwent dialysis. He had to have a kidney transplant so he could return to normal life. After several months of waiting for the transplant, finally, with the suggestion and consent of his sister, in 1997, when he was only 16 years old, he underwent organ transplant surgery by Shiraz Organ Transplant Team led by Dr. Seyed Ali Malek Hosseini.
After kidney transplant and complete recovery, he participated in competitions related to special patient athletes and organ transplants and won many sports positions.
After a while, he continued his postgraduate studies in physical education and got married in 2011 and has a daughter.
Sepehr Sepasi is currently working in the General Department of Physical Education of Fars Province.
Sports achievements:
- Winner of 4 gold and 1 bronze medal at the World Swimming Championships, Sweden, 2011.
- Breaking the record in the 100-meter breaststroke, Sweden, 2011.
- Holder of 2 gold and 1 silver medal in the Middle East Championships, Tunisia, 2010.
- Holder of 3 gold medals in the Middle East Swimming Championships, Kuwait, 2008.
- Holder of 5 gold medals at the Asian Swimming Games, Thailand, 2002.
- Holder of 3 gold medals in the Middle East Swimming Championships, Kuwait, 2000.
Saeed Sohrabi Kelestani - Athletics Champion
Saeed Sohrabi suffered from kidney failure in 2002 at the age of 12.
After about 2 to 6 months, organ was received from his father, and the kidney transplant performed by Shiraz Transplant Team led by Dr. Seyed Ali Malek Hosseini.
A year after the organ transplant, Mohammad Hadi Khoshnoodi, one of his friends who had undergone a kidney transplant himself, contacted him and through this he became acquainted with the Association for the Support of Kidney Patients and Sports Teams for Special Athletes and Organ Transplantation.
Sohrabi did not pursue a specific sport until being transplanted, and for a long time he refused to run or exercise because of the organ transplant. But after a while, by winning the first medal of the national competitions in the field of athletics, under the supervision of Mr. Haj Janali Rafiei (the champion of the five world army competitions), he continued this sport professionally and won many positions.
Sports achievements:
- National member of Islamic Republic of Iran athletics team.
- Chairman of the Organ Transplantation Sports Committee of Fars Province.
- 16 years of the organ transplantation national team membership.
- Gold medalist at the World Athletics Championships, Organ Transplantation, Thailand, 2007.
- Gold medalist of the Asian Athletics Championships, Organ Transplantation, Kuwait, 2008.
- Winner of the silver medal at the Asian Athletics Championships, Organ Transplantation, Kuwait, 2008.
- Gold medalist at the World Athletics Championships, Organ Transplantation, Sweden, 2011.
- Gold medalist at the World Athletics Championships, Organ Transplantation, South Africa, 2013.
- Silver medalist at the World Athletics Championships, Organ Transplantation, South Africa, 2013.
- Gold medalist of the Asian Athletics Championships, Organ Transplantation, Kuwait, 2014.
- Winner of the gold medal of the Asian Championships, Turkey, 2014.
- Holder of gold and bronze medals at the World Championships, Argentina, 2015.