A gold medal winning sportsman from Costessey is urging people to sign up for organ donation, as it emerges just 31pc of people in Norwich are on the register.

Tim Adamson, who has just returned from the World Transplant Games in Sweden with gold and silver medals in badminton, suffered kidney failure in 2002 due to a genetic condition.

The 42-year-old was constantly exhausted, had difficulty walking a few hundred metres and was put on the organ donor waiting list.

The father-of-one from Old Costessey said he thankfully had just three months on the waiting list for a new kidney because his slow deteroriation meant it was well planned for.

Mr Adamson, who works for Norwich JobcentrePlus, said: 'I knew that it wasn't going to come from a live donor and from sombody who had been in an accident or just died and so I had mixed emotions because I was going to benefit from somebody else's loss.

'I am hugely grateful to that individual and their family for making that decision.'

Mr Adamson said his transplant had been 'near perfect' and his good health since has enabled him to enjoy family life with his wife Debbie and daughter Kathryn, 14, and to compete in the transplant games to demonstrate how donation can help recipients to lead active lives and to raise awareness of the issue.

The latest figures, for May 2011, show that there are 263 people in Norfolk on the NHS Blood and Transplant waiting list, and 43 of those are in Norwich.

Mr Adamson said: 'The more people that sign up, the more people can be helped, and not just individuals but their families too.'

To sign up to the register, log on to www. organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 1232323.

Do you have a story about a life-saving transplant? Contact reporter Kim Briscoe on 01603 772419 or email kim.briscoe@archant.co.uk