Just a few months after a major operation, a Norfolk man is celebrating becoming a golden athlete.

Last October, John Curtis underwent a kidney transplant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital but within months was back playing sport.

He was picked to represent Addenbrooke’s in the six-a-side football tournament during the British transplant games at Leeds and followed that up by representing Great Britain in the European Transplant Games at Oxford for those aged 30 to 39 - where his team won the gold medal, beating off challenges from two Dutch teams, another GB team and an Italian side.

Back in his Cringleford home, John, known to everyone as Burt, looked back on an astonishing 12 months that, before the transplant, saw him undergo dialysis four times a day.

Mr Curtis first realised that something was wrong during a trip to Australia 15 years ago.

Tests at a hospital in Sydney showed that he was suffering from Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy, a slow burning disease that occurs when antibodies lodge in the kidneys. It is likely he was born with the disease.

At times his kidneys were only working at seven per cent of their capacity.

Now he has the distinction of having three kidneys with the new one working at the front of the other two.

His new kidney was donated by a family after their 20-year-old son died.

Mr Curtis doesn’t know their identity but has exchanged letters with them via Addenbrooke’s.

“What they have done for me is absolutely amazing. It really feels rather surreal,” he said, adding that he now has much more energy and is building up again towards full fitness.

He is hoping to give something back as a patient representative for the Norfolk Kidney Fund, looking to help people prepare for kidney transplants and then supporting them after the operation.

Just months after his transplant, Mr Curtis was an integral part of the Hethersett and Tas Valley Cricket Club that won promotion to the Norfolk Alliance Premier Division.

He has been a top-class local footballer for many years, playing for Hethersett Athletic and Dog House on Sundays and Cromer, Mulbarton, CEYMS, Thetford, Wroxham, Sheringham, Acle, Long Stratton and Easton on Saturdays.