Exciting news and more exciting news!

What a week we've had!



First piece of exciting news: Gorgeous little Ethan Collins has received his transplant! It's very early days but so far so good. If you would like to leave a message for the family, you can do so here on his facebook group. The brave family who somewhere out there are suffering huge loss are in our thoughts, and we hope very much that they are somewhat comforted by the knowledge that they have just saved this little boy's life.


Second very exciting thing that has been happening: our star advocate Holly Shaw held her Donor Day on Tuesday 7th April.


It was a phenomenal success, gaining celebrity support, attracting National Media attention, TV, radio and newspaper interviews, and even resulting in a phonecall from number 10 to offer congratulations and a statement of support! That day, the number of online sign ups increased by a massive 15 times the norm. That's a phenomenal achievement!


We are hugely proud of Holly and her incredible work; this 21 year old lady started her campaign whilst she was still recovering from major surgery, and has invested huge amounts of time and energy into raising awareness to help others. Holly; we couldn't be prouder of you, congratulations on a hugely successful day and a great big well done!

Be a hero: Put the kettle on.

On Tuesday 7th April, our Advocate Holly Shaw is holding her Donor Day. Could you help? Check out her eflyer below.

Opt out, working hard, and great news.

Apologies for the delay in updating - this week has been frantic for all team members but we are working very hard honest!

Firstly backtracking to Monday's news. Our official reaction to the ODTF's conclusion on an Opt-Out System can be read here on our website. There was some fantastic Media coverage throughout the day including Emily and Nyila on This Morning, Sarah Milne on ITV and Channel 4, and various others on their local news. Thank you to everyone who gave an opinion and helped keep the focus on Organ Donation and what a fantastic gift it is.

Very exciting news yesterday when Sarah texted to say William had just gone into Theatre for his small bowel transplant! It's very early days yet but so far he is in ICU and doing well. Please keep him and the family in your thoughts. Perhaps if you want to do something, you could talk to someone about his story and remind them that small bowel is not listed as an organ on the organ donor register, so in order to help someone like William you would have to tick "any tissues and organs".

The LLTGL Team had a very lengthy meeting on Saturday to touch base and ensure that all aspects of the Charity are being covered to move us forwards. These are very exciting times for us at LLTGL and we cannot thank everyone enough for their ongoing support as we grow as an Independent Charity.

Holly's Battlefront campaign continues to do really well; Emily is still helping her out and a further two people are coming on board as Holly's Helpers....so keep checking back on her campaign page to see how she's doing and what she's up to and don't forget to leave her a message to spur her on!

HOLLY IS THE WINNER!

Fantastic news to greet you with this morning LLTGLers!

Holly Shaw, one of our Fabvocates and hardcore campaigner has won Channel 4's recent competition to earn a place as the 20th Battlefront campaigner!

Now the campaigning really begins, but as Holly is still in hospital waiting for her brand new kidney to wake up and start behaving, our very own Emily is going to step in and help get it all started.

Please do help support Holly in this and spread the word about her fantastic work; we're all really proud of her here and wishing her lots of success with her Battlefront campaign. Don't forget, your support will help! To join in and to find out more about how to help promote Holly's campaign on blogger, bebo, facebook, myspace etc... just go to Holly's battlefront page

x

Update on Hol's campaign

BREAKING NEWS:

Holly's campaign received 1697 votes and an astounding 183 comments on her Battlefront webpage, eventually finishing in second place!!!!! A hugest thanks to everyone who voted and left lovely messages about how organ donation has touched their lives.


The judges met earlier this week to decide who out of the 10 made the top 3, and we are pleased to report that Holly is one of them!

All we need to do now is hold on tight to see if Holly has made it to that coveted 20th spot, to be announced on November the 3rd

We can't wait that long!!!!!

On the road

One of our key activities in helping to increase the number of organ donors is giving talks to various interested parties about the difference transplants can make, whether that is to local community groups, schools, medical conferences, hospitals and government departments. We at Live Life then Give Life are intimately connected to all kinds of people affected by transplantation and all of our trustees have had or will need transplants, and therefore we can speak passionately and knowledgeably about why transplants are so important.

This week therefore we were excited that Emma, along with Colin Prior from the Lewis Prior Foundation and Pauline Weaver from the Donor Family Network, were able to give a presentation at the Paediatric Symposium held at Alder Hey in Liverpool. This event was a really great opportunity for them to speak about transplants to a wide audience and was particularly important as a lot of people in attendance were those on the "front-line" of organ donation: Intensive Care and Accident and Emergency nurses who support the families of loved ones that have died or are on life-support.

Emma's 20 minute talk and PowerPoint presentation began with a little bit about our mission and history before outlining the huge problems with organ donation and transplantation that we at LLTGL are trying to tackle. We included a slide of 8 of our young friends we have lost due to the shortage of organ donors and to demonstrate just what spurs us on to keep going.

Emma and Colin Prior

Emma then passed over to Colin to tell his family's experience of his son Lewis Prior's wait in vain for a heart transplant. Colin's emotive speech so articulately demonstrated the need for more organ donors that a lot of the audience were in tears as they listened to his painful and emotional story. We are so grateful to Colin for having the courage to speak to such a large audience about the loss of his son Lewis. His talk had such a major impact on all who hear it and showed the stark and painful reality of the donor shortage in a way that we could have never done alone. If you get a chance, we'd be happy if you could visit the Prior Family's charity website set up in memory of Lewis at http://www.thelewispriorfoundation.org/

Emma then concluded before passing on to Pauline to answer questions and talk about her experience as a donor family. The questions from the floor were enlightening as it seemed many struggled with approaching potential donor families at a time of such grief for fear of making the situation worse. Pauline's incredibly powerful reply was " How could it possibly make it worse? Nothing can get any worse at that point, you've just lost the most important person in your world, how will that upset you further? Its actually offering a glimmer of hope. Every family should have the right to be asked. All I knew was that I had the chance to give another family what I wanted so much but couldn't have."

The feedback from our section of the talk was incredibly positive. Our stall at the conference, set up with our leaflets, trolley coins, material from UK Transplant and Sue and Richard Cansdale's Transforming Lives book proved extremely popular and Emma got some good chances to speak and make contact with many of the conference attendees.

Finally, we were happy that Emma was able to meet up with Holly Shaw, one of our advocates, and her parents for a meal in Liverpool and to catch up on her Battlefront campaign, which is currently getting support in mind-boggling proportions! The USA transplant community is now aware of her need for votes and is piling them in, along with lovely comments too. If you haven't yet voted for her campaign, please pop on over and show your support with a vote and message about what organ donation means to you.

Emma and Holly

Holly needs your vote to get organ donation on the telly!

One of our superstar supporters, Holly Shaw, is currently a contender for C4's Battlefront - a campaign with a difference.

The Battlefront site has pages for their favorite 19 campaigners and we want our Holz to be the 20th one picked for a star appearance on their TV series later in the year. Only the campaign with the largest number of votes will get through, so please get busy clicking!

Holly says:
"Did you know that 1000 people die every year because of the shortage of organ donors in the UK? In 2005 I went on the kidney transplant waiting list after a sudden illness caused kidney failure. I'm now kept alive by a dialysis machine which I’m attached to 3 times each week. For many others on the waiting list this isn't an option - for them an organ transplant is a matter of life and death. My campaign will raise awareness of organ donation and encourage more people to think, talk and do something about it. As a result, this campaign will save and transform lives, perhaps even my own. Waiting is tough! However I have seen the difference a transplant can make and this gives me hope for the future that I will be able to do the things I have dreamt of."
To keep up with Holly and her life on dialysis as she waits for her transplant, check out her excellent blog

If you could kindly pop on over to her campaign page http://battlefront.co.uk/campaign/the-gift-of-life/ and show your support with a vote and a little message about what organ donation means to you, that'd be awesome.

You have until 8th October to help get Holly and her campaign for organ donation on the telly!

love to all

*update- Holly's campaign is the most popular- let's keep it that way!