Why is Rachel so interested in your giblets?

In previous blogs we've explained why we're raising money for Penny Brohn Cancer Care and WaterAid. We're also supporting another good cause, but we're not after your money for this one... We're asking people to give us their giblets and to explain why, I'm going to tell you a little more about my incredible little cousin Rachel.

In a slightly stereotypical way, on the Irish side of the family I have 18 cousins (sorry to the 2 cousins not in the photo, this was the most recent one I had). Amongst us we have those who look after others and those who uphold the law, we have theatre buffs and science geeks, teachers and engineers. There are some talented musicians and pretty impressive sporting achievements to boast about (but we’ll keep quiet about the idiot who fell over on the side of the hockey pitch and ruptured her ACL…) But most importantly, we can certainly occupy a dancefloor!

Sadly, the youngest of our number never quite got the chance to work out who she was going to be. Rachel was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when she was 16 months old and spent the next 14 years struggling to deal with all that comes with having this disease. She spent a lot of time and energy fighting off infections and going in and out of hospital. However, this never got the better of her and she would always be seen with a cheeky smile on her face and mischievous plan being cooked up. A particular favourite of mine was getting her dad to put pink nail varnish on and then getting the nurses to hide all the nail varnish remover! By the time she was 15, Rachel’s lungs had deteriorated to the extent that her only hope was to be put on the lung transplant list. She was left hoping that someone she would never meet, and their grieving family, would give the most incredible gift during their time of tragedy. Unfortunately Rachel was not fortunate enough to find a match and she passed away at home. 

I’m not telling this story to make people sad, I’m trying to put into words what it’s like to cross your fingers so hard it hurts. There are so many other families whose stories are similar to ours; 10,000 people in UK require an organ transplant. There are success stories, 4,655 people received organ transplants last year from 2,466 donors. But 1,000 people each year will die because no donor has become available and they are removed from the list as they would not survive the transplant operation.  This is why we’re asking people to sign up to the organ donation register, so that when you no longer need your giblets, someone else in desperate need can be given a chance to work out who they are going to be.

 http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/

The main thing to note about organ donation is that it will be up to your next of kin to pass on your instructions. So we recommend that, in addition to signing up to the register, you let your next of kin know exactly what your wishes are.