Please vote for Emily, our 3 Minute Wonder!

Tissues at the ready....

Award winning creative film-maker Rob Hindle contacted our chair Emily a few months ago about making a documentary for Channel 4's 3 Minute Wonders, an entry for a competition called "It's good to know..."

The film, "I'd Give You One" is now up on 4docs website. Be warned, it is extremely hard-hitting. Rob has put together a film that takes us through the emotions that Emily, chair and co-founder of Live Life then Give Life, faced as she waited for her transplant and subsequent recovery.

It opens with the terrible choice that awaited Emily as she lay dying: Either we weld your lungs to your chest cavity so that you can breathe, but that will be permanent and you will die within a year; or you can wait to have both your lungs transplanted, which may never happen and if it does, you are likely to die before you ever get it...

If you can, please can you register so that you can "love" it (by clicking the tab with the heart next to the screen) - the more love it gets, the higher up the list it goes. The winning documentary will be shown on Channel 4.

With love and tears,

The LLTGL Christmas media campaign

The Christmas Media Campaign is one of the cornerstones of our work here at LLTGL and one we have always had lots of success with over the years. Our aim is to highlight that Christmas is a particularly poignant and emotional time of year for all people affected by organ donation and transplantation: Those waiting for transplants who fear it may be their last; those who have had transplants who remain alive to celebrate with their friends and families; the families of those who died waiting; and to honour donor families who will be spending Christmas without their loved ones.

This year, our friend Sarah Milne will be co-ordinating our Christmas campaign. We are already off to a good start with Rach Wakefield's story on newswire, but we need more! If you are interested in being featured in the LLTGL Christmas campaign please message her with a brief summary of your story and a Christmassy quote about what this Christmas means to you.

With love as always,

Pics from the vinspired awards...

Head on over to Holly's blog for a full write-up and pictures!

Well done again Holly, from all of us at LLTGL !

Volunteers needed for Round the World Race

The Clipper Round the World Race will leave the UK in September 2011 and travel 40,000 miles visiting 13 countries and involves 10 identical stripped down 68 foot racing yachts. As there is great media interest in this race, the British Transplantation Society are keen to use this unique opportunity to promote organ donation and transplantation on a global stage as well as in the UK.

Professor Steve Wigmore is putting together a team to act as ‘Transplant Ambassadors’ in a relay on each leg of the Clipper 2011-2012 Round The World Yacht Race. Sailing experience is not essential as training is provided and the boats are skippered by professional yachtsmen. What is essential is enthusiasm and reasonable health.

The BTS are looking for volunteers in the following areas:

• Crew members
• Organization, logistics,
• Web design, media
• Fundraising.

They are especially keen to hear from transplant recipients or living donors who are in good health to man the boat!

Interested? Contact Steve Wigmore ( s.wigmore@ed.ac.uk ) before December 18th 2009

Gifts of Life

Huge well done to Holly Cocker, a photographer from London, whose photographs grace the cover of this month's Kidney Life magazine, a quarterly publication from the National Kidney Federation. In 2006 the NKF published the Transplant Manifesto, which spurred on the creation of the Organ Donation Task Force to make a number of recommendations to increase the number of organs available for transplantation.

Holly was given a transplant from her best friend Oli last year, and created the Give and Let Live project to highlight the special bond that exists between living organ donors and their recipients. Together with Sarah Milne, a freelance writer and photographer whose son Will had a small bowel transplant also last year, they have created the "Gifts of Life" project.

Holly and Sarah will be working with LLTGL in 2010 on various projects to showcase their photography and raise awareness of both living and cadaveric donation. We are all super excited to be working with them both, so watch this space for news and info about upcoming projects!

ps. Our eagle-eyed supporters will also notice Andy (a.k.a. saxophonist with Big Buzzard and the Organ Grinders, who produced a charity single for us in 2007) along with his awesome donor Maff! You can read more about Andy and Maff on their website Have One of Mine, where you can also still buy our single!

**Breaking News** Holly Won!!!

Holly Shaw, our super duper North West advocate, just won the national vinspired SHOUT award 2009 for all of her work raising awareness of organ donation!


Congrats Holly! More news and a full update coming soon!

Love,

New correspondance address

We love recieving mail! If you fancy sending us a card, a letter about your experiences, a donation or just something to say hi the old fashioned way, please use this address:

Live Life Then Give Life
PO Box 583
Epsom
KT179HD

Lots of love,