LLTGL continues to spread the word

As many of you know, we love being invited to talk about organ donation to all kinds of people, from medical professionals to workplaces, schools, community groups and just about anyone else you can think of.

We therefore jumped on the chance to talk to students atWarwickshire college earlier this month, who invited Oli to share his experiences as a double-lung recipient as part of their BTEC National Health and Social Care course.

We were really impressed with the students' presentation about why signing the organ donor register and telling your family of your wishes is so important. Local MP James Plaskitt was in attendance too, and took away lots of information to spread the message even further in the local community.

LLTGL are always happy to help anyone who wants to spread the message about organ donation, so why not get in touch with your ideas?

Thank you Charlotte and Chris!

A big shout out and thank you to Charlotte and Chris, who ran the Bath Half Marathon for us last month. They have now flown past their target of £600 and have raised £967 for LLTGL.

The pair found the training tough but Charlotte actually says she may carry on running after the event so has clearly been bitten by the running bug!

Are you doing a fundraising event for us? Don't forget to let us know so we can shout about it.

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It's quackers how much you could help us raise...

Last year LLTGL entered the Great British Duck Race for the first time, hundreds of you thought this was a jolly good idea and purchased ducks to support us. OK so the possibility of winning £10,000 if your duck crosses the line first is probably a good motivator too!

The ducks are now up for grabs, and yet again we are a receiving Charity. The organisers are doing it slightly differently this year so to ensure that we receive the donation from your duck please click on this link: http://www.thegreatbritishduckrace.co.uk/o/lltgl

You can buy a duck for just £3, one whole pound of which comes straight to LLTGL! Plus your duck is then a member of the world's biggest Duck race and should it cross the line first could win you a staggering £10,000!

Surely no better reason to purchase a rubber ducky or five...

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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.

Well done Tom and new Welsh Campaign.

A massive congrats from all of us at LLTGL goes to Tom Richardson, who on 22nd March ran the Tokyo Marathon to raise money for LLTGL.

His hard work in both training and fundraising paid of as he completed the race in a fantastic 4 hours and 31 minutes, raising over £700 so far for us. There is still time to sponsor Tom by going to his Justgiving fundraising page: www.justgiving.com/trichardson Are you doing a sponsored event for LLTGL? Let us know so we can blog about it!

Donate Wales recently released a new element to their awareness campaign for Organ Donation. The hard hitting TV advert calls for viewers to "Save Sian." You can view the advert by clicking here; what are your thoughts? We'd love to hear what you think of it.

Lastly, our fabulous Advocate Holly Shaw is approaching her big donor day, which she is holding on April 7th. Holly will be in London on the day itself hosting a Donor Desk - are you able to hold one to support her and get people signed up? Click here to find out more.

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A plea from Ethan's dad.

Remember little Ethan? He's still waiting for his life-saving transplant, still living in hospital.

His lovely family are holding a Charity auction for LLTGL and Stu (Ethan's dad) has a message for anyone who might be able to contribute or support in any way:

My name's Stu Collins.

My son Ethan was born on the 16th December 2007 with Gastoschisis ( Bowel on the outside). Within 6 hours of being born he had his first of many operations to put his bowel back in.
Sadly the majority of his bowel had died, so instead of the normal childs 150cm of bowel, he was left with just 20 cm's. Because of this he couldn't feed normally and needed to have 2 Stomas and a central line fitted (TPN - Temporary Parental Nutrition) , to give him the right calciums, proteins and fats children need.

Over months doctors were hoping his bowel would work, he would start eating and be able to live without his central line (TPN). His bowel didn't work properly so needed to carry on with his TPN. Sadly the known causes of having a central line (TPN) is that it can cause Liver Disease and liver failure.Ethan has now been in hospital since birth and been on TPN just as long (15 months).

His bowel does not work, and his liver is failing rapidly as well.

He has had other operations from joining his stomas back up to having new lines , and gastrostomys fitted. He has had well over 15 blood transfusions, over 10 platelet transfusions and possibly just over 5 Fresh Frozen plasma transfusions.

In November we were told Ethan with the situation his was in then and how ill he was that he would not make it too Christmas. Well he suprised everyone and is still doing it now.
His only option we've been told is that he needs a Liver and Bowel Transplant, the sooner the better.

Me and my family have been to papers, radio stations etc. to try and get more people on the donor list, not just for Ethan but for other families out there in the same situation.

Me and 7 of my family are doing the Bupa Manchester 10km run and raising money for LLTGL, which has nearly hit 2000 pounds already!! The evening of the race we're arranging a charity auction night, to continue to raise money.So i'm pleading to anyone who reads this that if you now anyone with contacts anywhere who could help us out with anything, that would be fantastic.

And its all going to a fantastic cause which we chose.

Thank you, Stu Collins x

Could you do something to help the Collins family? Please get in touch with us via the website if you can help.

Thank you.