From operating table to open water - Adam Filby on liver donation, recovery and Ironman

In Episode 3, Salim is joined by Adam Filby - technology professional, fundraiser, triathlete and dad. 

In May 2017, on the same day the WannaCry cyberattack was tearing through NHS systems across the country, Adam was on an operating table donating part of his liver to his seven-year-old daughter Florence, who had been born with a life-threatening liver condition. He came round from the anaesthetic not in intensive care, but in a makeshift room in a hospital corridor, and within 24 hours had signed up for an Ironman.

Adam's relationship with swimming began years earlier, quietly shaped by the knowledge that one day his daughter might need him to be in the best possible shape. What followed was a journey from a man who could barely swim 50 metres, through triathlons, half Ironmans and four full Ironmans, to someone for whom the open water has become the place he finds the same peace he once found running through a forest the night before the operation. This is a story about love, purpose, the human body's extraordinary capacity to heal and what happens when you refuse to set a limit on what you might be capable of.

Key themes in this episode:

• Biliary atresia, the rare liver condition Florence was born with, and what it means for families waiting for a transplant
• Training for a triathlon in your early 30s with a quiet, deeper motivation behind it
• What it's like to be on the transplant list - the waiting, the restrictions, the fear
• The day of the operation - two theatres, a cyberattack, and a photo taken over a surgeon's shoulder
• Going from lying in a hospital bed to completing an Ironman in five and a half months
• How swimming and exercise became a vehicle for processing an enormous experience
• The calm that open water gives and why Adam can no longer train in a pool
• The case for living organ donation, and why fitness is no barrier to recovery
• Finding purpose through sport: from proving something to simply thriving

Useful Links

Swimming & Open Water

• Shepperton Open Water Swim: sheppertonopenwaterswim.co.uk
• Hampton Pool — where Mei-Ling rediscovered swimming during the pandemic
• Swim Serpentine — open-water event completed during her recovery
• Kingfisher Triathletes - Triathlon club
• British Triathlon
• Outdoor Swimmer Magazine

Swim with Salim

• SwimLab — Learn to swim with Salim

Organ Donation

• NHS Organ Donation — register as an organ donor
• Children's Liver Disease Foundation — supporting families affected by childhood liver disease

Adam Filby

• Follow Adam on Instagram

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Produced by The Good Studio - thegoodstudio.co.uk