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.
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.
