Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I got barefoot Mo Salah his first trainers
Athlete mum proves she’s all heart Kidney swap got Pete up & running
AN expat bought Mo Salah his first pair of trainers after he bagged seven goals in a friendly while playing barefoot as a boy.
Terry Thornton was stunned by the skills of the 11-year-old who tore the opposition to shreds on a makeshift pitch in Egypt.
He and co-workers in 2003 had a whip-round for the future Liverpool star.
Terry, 68, who set up looms in Cairo for a Bradford textile company, said: “He was the best player on both teams.
“They won 8-0, he got seven of them. He was doing the lot – overheads, volleys. He’s still got that same passion.”
Mo, 26, was among locals who would turn up to take on expats during their lunchbreak on a rubble-strewn desert pitch. MUM Louise Mclellan will compete in four swim events, a mini-marathon and the javelin… after a heart transplant.
Louise, 48, was born with a congenital condition and finally got a new heart in 2013. She said: “I was always envious of how active my family is and saddened I could never join in. Now I can go bike riding without getting out of breath.”
Louise, from Manchester, has won medals in running, athletics and cycling at previous British Transplant Games. BRUMMIE Peter Frazier has been involved with the British Transplant Games since 1979, the year after he got his new kidney at the age of 28.
He had been forced to leave the police force when kidney disease struck and says: “I received dialysis for six years and endured a severely restricted lifestyle.”
But in 1981, he became the first transplant patient to do a marathon, and Peter, 67, says: “I can’t wait to compete in the Games as it returns to Birmingham.”