16/07/2026
Johnny played in the 'World Cup' with a transplanted kidney...🏆⚽
Twenty-one-year-old Londoner Johnny Byamungu was born with Prune Belly syndrome, a condition so severe that doctors told his parents he wouldn't live to the age of five.
"They told my parents pretty much that I had one year maximum... after I managed to live past five, they kind of stopped putting those limits [on me]," Johnny explains.
His condition played a big part of his life growing up, but something else was bigger – football. The game was everything for him. He joined a local team, and decided his physical challenges weren't going to get the better of him.
"Doctors have always said to me: Johnny can't do this, Johnny can't do that. He won't live this long."
"I just thought, yeah, screw it."
But by 16, Johnny's health was deteriorating to the point where his kidneys could no longer properly function. He was exhausted all the time, and couldn't play football as he once did.
He ended up on a dialysis machine to support his kidneys. "It makes you feel terrible," he says. "It drains energy off you. It makes you feel physically sick."
Nobody in Johnny's family was a match for his kidneys, so Johnny and his mum joined a scheme where families in the same situation donate organs to each other. In December 2021, they found someone.
For Johnny, it meant another shot at his football dreams. His doctor introduced him to transplant football – a version of the sport played by athletes who have received organ donations.
Johnny was sceptical, but the game was full of young people like him, playing football to a decent level.
He seized the opportunity, and before long, he was called up to represent England at the Transplant Football World Cup in 2024. It meant the world to him.
"When times have been tough, to get called up to play for your country... It's not something you could have imagined," he says.
A year later, he helped his team win the Transplant European Football Championship, with a group of teammates he calls his brothers.
"We've all gone through similar experiences, all felt terrible in life. All have had a transplant, and started to feel better."
Johnny's a PE teacher now, and he tells the children he teaches that they, too, may go through tough times one day – and that they, too, can beat the odds.
🎧 Listen to Outlook: https://bbc.in/4foEG46
