Jersey dentist swimming for Team GB at World Transplant Games

Monday 20 March 2023

A Jersey-based dentist who suffered multiple organ failure immediately at the birth of her daughter is travelling to Australia next month to compete in her first World Transplant Games.

35-year-old Louise Double is part of the Team GB swimming squad and will compete in the freestyle over various distances up to 400m.

Her selection is remarkable not only because, four years ago, Louise was fighting for her life but also, she only took up swimming about two years ago.

Louise needed an emergency liver transplant shortly after giving birth to Amelia in 2018.

Formerly a regular gym goer, she took up swimming because her transplant scarring prevented her doing sit-ups, planks and other intense exercises.

“I had to take a more holistic approach to my fitness due to physical limitations, so started swimming and yoga," she said.

Pictured: Louise Double is training up to four times a week to prepare for the World Transplant Games next month in Perth, Western Australia.

"I also wanted to compete at the games, so focused on improving in the pool."

Last year, Louise took part in the British Transplant Games, where she won two of her four races, and was asked to join Team GB for this year’s Worlds.

“Given how short a time I have been swimming, I am trying to manage my expectations for Perth,” she said.

“I am training as hard as I can, but with a chronic illness, you do have to deal with periods of being unwell and tiredness.

“Also, I have a job and a young child which keeps me busy. As well as competing, I want to use take the opportunity to meet people who face similar challenges to me.

“Jersey is lovely but it can be quite a lonely place in the sense that few people have experienced what I have, especially at my age.”

Louise explained that having a transplant, and being so close to death, often had a profound impact on one’s physical and mental health, even if you appeared fine to the outside world.

She had spent two weeks in intensive care, which itself had lasting consequences not widely understood among those who have not experienced it.

Her illness left Louise with a mild brain injury because of a build-up of toxins after her liver failed. She initially suffered from short-term memory lapses, and still struggles to find the right words sometimes.

She also relies on drugs to keep her alive, whose side-effects can affect her nervous system and make her feel sick.

Her understanding of the trauma of intensive care is the reason that Louise is raising money for the Jersey Critical Care Survivors, a charity founded to support intensive care survivors.

She is an ambassador and trustee for the self-funded charity and also leads one of its support groups.

In the run up to the Games, Louise is training up to four times a week with the Jersey Swimming Club.

She not only has the full support of her husband Dave, four-year-old Amelia, and family and friends but also colleagues and patients at her surgery, Smile Dental Clinic in Gloucester Street.

Anyone wishing to support Louise can donate through her Gofundme page.