By DENNILLE SCHULER

Special to The Press

Dr. Neal Stansbury, of Orefield, is celebrating five years since his lifesaving heart transplant by winning a gold and a silver medal at the World Transplant Games, April 15-21 in Perth, Australia.

The Transplant Games celebrates the power of donation and provide transplant recipients with an international platform to honor their donors and show how much they can achieve after receiving a donated organ.

Stansbury was a record-setting competitive cyclist before his illness and successfully returned to cycling last year.

This was his first time at the World Transplant Games, which feature 3,000 transplant recipient athletes ages 4 to 80-plus.

Stansbury represented the Gift of Life Donor Program, the nonprofit that coordinated his lifesaving heart transplant.

A volunteer ambassador with Gift of Life, raising awareness about the importance of donation to help save more lives, he was recently elected to Gift of Life Donor Program’s Medical Advisory and Policy Board.

With just a few weeks to live, he received a heart transplant in July 2018.

Married with three daughters, Stansbury is an orthopedic surgeon with Lehigh Valley Health Network.

He won gold in the 30K cycling road race at the World Games and silver in the 10K cycling time trial, losing by only one second to a former pro cyclist from Great Britain.

In the Gift of Life’s region, including the Lehigh Valley, there are 5,300 people currently waiting for organs.

More people are needed to register as organ donors.

One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and one tissue donor can enhance the lives of more than 75 others.