*New T-Shirts*

OK all you fab LLTGL supporters, we need your help!

When LLTGL was first launched back in 2006, it was essentially a T-shirt campaign. That was four years ago and the time has come to redesign our T-shirts!

We are down to two designs and this is where you come in; we need you to vote for your’e favourite one and give us any comments and feedback you can think of. Our supporters are always asking what they can do to help and so this is the perfect opportunity to make a difference and get involved.

Here are the 2 designs, leave comments on the blog to say if you prefer design one or design two or head over to our Facebook page and "like" your favourite design there.



This also means that the stock we have left of our current T-shirts is now effectively limited edition, so if you want to buy one, email info@lltgl.org.uk before it's too late!

We look forward to hearing your feedback and, as always, are extremely grateful for your ongoing support.

Love,
The LLTGL Team x

"With a happy balloon bobbling up and down at the end of my bed you can't help but smile and keep fighting"

We're pretty sure you know about our Robyn's Rainbows scheme, but just in case you don't, here's a reminder of what it is and why we do it. This is written by Rich, who is waiting for a double lung transplant and currently having a very rough time in hospital. We sent him his RR last week and received this lovely email in response.

"I woke from my early afternoon nap to find that a rather large parcel had been left a the end of my hospital bed. After realising that for once it wasn't a box of medication from Pharmacy I got rather excited. With the help of a passing physio we carefully untied the shiney yellow ribbon that surrounded the box and then peeled off the lid. I was slightly confused by the size/weight ratio of the parcel at his point as although big enough to conseal a large Christmas cake, it weighed no more than a bag of prawn crackers from a Chinese takeaway..

Finally we got the lid off, and like a jack in the box, a huge yellow smile bobbled into the room on a balloon. A smile that quickly spread to my face as I realised what had happened and who was responsible.

I was already very much aware of he work that LLTGL do for the transplant community and had read stories of others, like myself that had received a Robyn's Rainbow in the past... and can confirm that the reaction that I felt was exactly what they try to achieve with such a gesture.

The wait for Transplant isn't easy, but to know that people are thinking of you and cheering you all the way means so much. And with a happy balloon bobbling up and down at the end of my bed you can't help but smile and keep fighting.

Thank you and awooga!!"

It's thanks to your ongoing support and fundraising efforts that we are able to keep people smiling and help them keep fighting.

We're keeping our fingers tightly crossed that Rich gets his much-needed call as soon as possible. Do you know someone pre or post transplant that is having a difficult time and could do with a smile? Email info [at] lltgl.org.uk to nominate them for a Robyn's Rainbow! To find out more about the scheme and the story behind it, click here.

x

Gift of Life Memorial

Our friends at The Donor Family Network are holding a £250,000 fund raising appeal to create the Gift of Life Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire along with other regional memorials across the country.

The new National Organ Donor Memorial pays tribute to those donors and their families who made the gift of life possible.

The Donor Family Network strongly believes that a memorial to organ donors should be funded by the people - those whose lives organ and tissue donation has touched and those who support transplantation in recognition of the kindness and generosity of organ donors and their families.

The Memorial features a butterfly - the symbol of hope and new life and the forget-me-not as no donor will ever be forgotten. The design is surrounded by symbolic benches and provides a focus for donor recognition.

To find out more about the memorial, the appeal and how to donate visit: http://www.giftoflife.org.uk/

Advocate Number 7

Last but by no means least advocate number 7!

Carol Beckett is a 39-year-old mother from Manchester. She was diagnosed with a rare liver cancer in September 2007 and received part of her brother's liver in a Living Donor Liver Transplant in January 2008.

At risk to his own life, Stephen saved Carol’s life in a ten hour operation and to express her thanks for this wonderful gift, Carol is now an Advocate for Live Life then Give Life, helping promote the importance of organ donation. Carol has worked in the NHS since 1991, and after a career break, has recently gone back to work part time in the NHS as a Senior Information Analyst.

Carol still finds time to fulfill her role as an advocate in many ways such as appearing in the Good Housekeeping magazine to tell her story, setting up stalls to invite members of the public to join the organ donor register and also giving presentations in schools to spread the word.



A couple of weeks ago Carol’s sister Sue also ran the London Marathon raising a massive £2,461.45 for us so far! (http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/suestrang)

Thank you Carol, your ongoing work and support is much appreciated.

There is a chronic shortage of organ donors in the U.K. and consequently 3 people die every day whose lives could have been saved by a transplant. Carol and indeed all the team at LLTGL want to raise awareness of this plight and want people to talk about it, think about it and do something about it.

Tremendous Trustees

Holly here, I am now on the Live Life Then Give Life blogging team so you will have the pleasure of my company here every so often – Ok so we’ve talked about our Amazing Advocates and now I’m going to re-introduce our Tremendous Trustees (they won’t blow their own trumpets so I am going to do it for them!)

First off Pops Barham – now where do we start with Pops!



Pops is a Student Paediatric Nurse, studying in the frozen North that is Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Her links with Organ Donation began when her younger brother Gareth received a new heart at Christmas 2004, after a six-month wait. Since this live changing event for Gareth, Pops has been a fierce promoter of Organ Donation, coming up with numerous (and often bizarre) methods of persuading people — especially students — to sign the Organ Donor Register.

In 2005, she started at University College in the University of Durham, studying English and Theology with Arabic (it seemed like a very good idea at the time!).

In Pops’ second year at Durham, she worked with the Chancellor Bill Bryson in starting his Organ Donation campaign, called 'My Friend Oli'. Bill had started the campaign after meeting Oli Lewington, who Pops finally met after his successful transplant. Targeting the student population, the campaign had great success in Durham, and will hopefully spread to universities across the country soon. For more information, check out myfriendoli.com. This is where Pop’s heart lies, promoting organ donation amongst students through her role as student outreach for LLTGL. (Keep watching this space)

Now Pops has had some strange, bizarre and downright wacky ideas but this just takes the biscuit... Pops is going to run the Manchester Bupa 10k on Sunday for us along with her brother Harry and members of Team Ethan, this would be fine but she herself admits she can’t run and only started training a couple of weeks ago!

Pops acquaints herself with her trainers

She is making progress and all jokes aside Pops is fab and even if she has to crawl across the finish line we at Live Life Then Give Life know that she will complete it as she is so passionate about raising awareness of Organ Donation and raising money for us to continue our work! To keep up to date with her training schedule and how she is getting on click here and to sponsor her visit her Just Giving page here.

Had it not been for the gift of Organ Donation, Pops would be without her brother and this is exactly why she wanted to become a trustee, to keep spreading the word. Well done Pops for your fab work! x

Independent Woman

Our loyal supporter Holly Cocker featured in the Independent newspaper today. The article discussed her transplant journey, where her best friend Oli donated a kidney to her after she had spent 5 years on dialysis. The headline of the article says it all ‘He simply said, have my kidney. He was my best friend – now he’s my hero’



Other people were also interviewed for the article, each of the people in the article have been part of Holly Cocker’s “Give and Let Live” photography project which promotes the benefit of living kidney donation. When discussing the project Holly said “When I travelled round to meet up with everyone and take their photo there was never a moment of awkwardness. The fact that we had been through the same thing somehow made it seem as if we were old friends. It is hard to put into words, but I instantly felt and understood the connection between the people in every couple I met. The attachment Oli and I have is incredible, amazing. It is like nothing else. He saved me.”

To read the full article click here and to read more about Holly’s project click here.

The article even mentions us at the bottom! Way to go Holly from all at Live Life Then Give Life x

Update on Rachy

Hello Everyone,

It's Holly here! Just dropping by to give you an update on our lovely patient ambassador Rachael Wakefield... She continues to progress well after her double lung transplant but it is a long road to recovery and it's not without its hiccups along the way, which is to be expected after such a huge operation!

Rachy is currently fighting an infection (pseudomonas) in her new puffers but the fab transplant team are onto it with strong antibiotics and regular bronchoscopies.

Rachy currently is still on overnight ventilation due to her right lung being a bit naughty but this will hopefully be reduced in time and she will hopefully get the tracheotomy tube out soon too (she will be very happy to be able to finally talk!) The doctors still remain happy with everything and Rachy is keeping the physios on their toes by working on improving her lungs.

I am in regular contact with Rachy and her Mum, they are both in good spirits and are grateful for all the messages of support. You can keep up to date with Rachy's progress on her blog here: http://lungs-for-life.blogspot.com/

Of course Rachy's transplant wouldn't have happened if it had not been for someone signing the Organ Donor Register and their family agreeing to donation. If you want to give someone like Rachy a second chance at life, please consider signing the Organ Donor Register too.

Thank you, x