The Gift of Life

I've been incredibly lucky to have received my life saving heart and lung transplant over three years ago and during those three years I've been able to see and do so many things. There have been big family milestones such as Rose's 21st, our Silver Wedding Anniversary and seeing Sarah and Oli get married.  This autumn I saw both our girls graduate. 

When I found out I was really sick before my transplant these were all future events that flashed through my mind . A myriad of pictures one after another whizzing in front of me; future dreams; dreams that I'd perhaps always taken for granted now slipping away in the face of illness. And then came the gift of my heart and lungs - the gift of new life for me and a gift that restored our family again. A gift that gave me back those dreams. 

Now our family has been given another new gift of life, our brand new baby grandson, Freddie, born just a few weeks ago. My dreams back then didn't stretch as far as this - I hadn't dared hope I don't think or dared to even wish for so much. Now every achievement, dream and wish has been surpassed with the arrival of Freddie. I cannot thank my donor or their family enough for enabling me to  see this moment and to hold my precious first grandchild in my arms. 

Grandma

Your outlook to life changes when you have had a life threatening illness and surgery and still live with fragile health. Family moments are hugely important to most people, but after events such as these, precious family moments suddenly become very intense, you strive towards them, enjoy every moment while they happen and value that you've reached yet another milestone and been able to make another precious memory. 

Earlier on this year, Rob and I had the lovely news that we were to be grandparents in the new year. Sarah is expecting her first baby very soon in January. Who knows if the baby is early, it might even be a Christmas baby. If all goes to plan, this will be another massive milestone in our family life, another one of those moments that I will see all because of the kindness of my donor and their family. 

I've already been able to see the scans of the baby and see and feel it kicking, again these are very precious and special moments for me and I value so much that I've been able to enjoy and experience them. Sarah held her 'Baby Shower' at weekend. It seems to be a popular thing to do these days and a good excuse for a get together with friends. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea, games and lots of chatter and fun. It was a real boost amongst the health issues of the last few months. It also had me thinking about being a grandma and about both my own grandmas and what they meant to me. 

I remember as a young child visiting my father's mother on Saturdays - playing in the garden; running along to the nearby train track to watch the steam trains rush past and hoot - something very different from home; watching Doctor Who at tea time whilst hiding behind a cushion. I can remember her coming to stay with us and sharing a room with her as we hadn't enough space to give her her own room - endless chatter and excitement that grandma was sharing my room. Happy memories. 

My mum's mum spent a lot of time with us, as she lived nearby - just around the corner. I was very close to her and spent hours with her while I was growing up. She lived next to my primary school - she would come and wave at us at playtimes. I would go to her house for tea after school. I've memories of us going shopping together every Saturday - she always used to treat me and we'd go for lunch in a cafe near the local market. I used to go to her house for lunch every Sunday until I left home. We had many special moments. 

And my thoughts on being a grandma? It's hard to imagine being a grandma, as it only seems a very short time ago that Sarah and Rose were only babies and growing up. I'm only just getting used to my own children being adults. Suddenly I'm going to be a grandma. As a young child, I used to think my grandmas were old. I think most children probably think grandmas and grandads are old. Now I realise my own grandmas were probably only my age when I was little and weren't that old at all. I don't really feel old. I smile to myself, knowing my own grandchildren will probably think I'm old! 

I'm looking forward to the baby's arrival and helping out Sarah if she needs a hand. It's really is going to be a new and exciting phase in our lives, especially since Rob has retired. We hopefully will have the time to be active grandparents. I'd like my grandchildren to have similar and precious moments that I had with my grandmas, give them the time and patience like both my grandmas gave me and make them feel special. 

We are trying to be organised in time for both Christmas and the baby coming. There's still weeks to go, yet it may be imminent too, as we are counting in weeks now, not months anymore. We just hope for a safe arrival and a healthy baby and mum. 

The 'R' Word

The 'R' word reared a few weeks ago now, when I was diagnosed as being in 'acute rejection' and just to complicate matters another diagnosis, that I had pseudomas colonising in both my lungs. It's believed that this has probably led from all the complications that followed the bout of CMV virus I had last Xmas. 

Last Xmas seems a long time ago now, well it's nearly a year this month that the CMV reared itself. The problem with a transplant patient is that with an infection or virus then a careful balance needs to be struck with the immunosupressant medication. If you are too over immunosuppressed then it's difficult to control the infection; if you become under immunosuppressed then there is the strong possibility that your body may reject the transplanted organs. 

When I had the CMV it was very severe, so my immunosuppression needed lowering to help combat it. After my CMV levels were back under control, it has since been a very delicate balance of controlling it so it would not reactivate and keeping the immunosuppression at the right level too in order to prevent rejection. I'd been having regular clinics and blood tests every month since, to keep a close eye on things, so I was lucky I happened to be at clinic and the rejection was found promptly. I shouldn't have been that shocked really that a rejection had happened, as that's one of the reasons they'd been monitoring me so closely. I thought I'd got away with it being nearly a year on from the infection.

The rejection was treated with high doses of IV methylpred steroids for three days and then with further oral steroids at reducing doses until I reached a suitable maintainance dose. To give you an idea of the increase I used to be on 5mg a day and the methylpred dose was 600mg. I also had to have another immunosuppression tablet doubled in dose. Pseudomas are a common thing in both pre and post lung transplant patients and can be without symptoms but when an infection or rejection episode occurs they can begin to colonise, start to inflame and even become infectious as they react, which is what had happened in my case and it was named as organising pneumonia. So I needed to be treated with a strong course of antibiotics too. And with all this happening, there was a fear of the CMV virus occurring again, so I had to be put back on the treatment for CMV too. All in all, a bit of a drug overload which in turn give their side effects on top of whatever else is happening, so some extra treatments for those too. Then it was a case of waiting a couple of weeks to see if the medication helped and whether the problems had been sorted, so add in a little anxiety on top and a lot of hope that this could all be turned around. 

I arrived back at clinic and had all the routine tests done and my X-rays looked like the organised pneumonia was improving, which was a big positive. However, there was no improvement in my lung function, which the consultants had expected looking at the x-ray. There was even a slight decline, so they acted swiftly again and squeezed in an emergency CT scan before going ahead with another bronchoscopy and biopsy. I was admitted back in hospital again and unfortunately the biopsy came back with the disappointing result that another type of 'rejection' was now occuring. This time a rarer thing with an acute rejection, which the consultant described to me as cells localising in a stream of rejection in the airways of my lungs. So it was back to square one again - back with the routine steroids treatment again, although I've just had it and been through all that. It was another three days of the high dose methylpredisolone in hospital to zap this second rejection and home again now on high oral doses to keep up the treatment. They will reduce down a little over the next few days, but they are going to be maintained at a higher level to help my lungs recover if possible or hopefully at least help them remain where they are at. 

It's a matter of waiting to see if this does the trick. There will be more biopsy results to come yet on the organised pneumonia front and discussion on the CT results amongst the team and I'm back at clinic in less than two weeks for another MOT, biopsy and bronchoscopy to see where we are at. I'm truly hoping and positive we can either turn this around at this point or hold things where they are at least. I'm also trying to be ready and prepared for whatever else may happen. 

In the meantime we have lots of very positive things happening too and this keeps me motivated to grab life and every moment it offers. It is Rose's graduation ceremony on Thursday. We are working on a plan A, plan B and plan C on enabling me to either attend or at least be part of it all somehow. It will depend on how well I am, but we will find a way or a compromise that will work and it's something to really look forward to. 

Rob also attended the Papworth Annual Patients' Event while I was in hospital and did a talk about what it's like to be a carer. Carers are often overlooked and they play such a vital role in all that we go through. I think it was a moving speech from what I've heard and I'm proud of him. He also did what was supposed to be my speech about our Transplant Patients' Representative Group that I chair and about the Transplant Support Group that our group have set up and got underway this year at Papworth. I was also supposed to be signing and selling my books there in aid of the support group and he successfully managed to sell quite a good few books for us too. It helped after the Director of Transplant Services and my transplant surgeon gave my book a big plug in his video. He's a person I'm forever grateful to for saving my life, but he continually supports us patients through our journeys, together with his marvellous team. 

After all that, Rob was back by my bedside just in time for my biopsy results. All in all, he's been a star and a rock not only supporting me, but ensuring all the comittments I'd taken on were organised and worked smoothly without me. I can't thank him enough, but I know the causes are as dear to him as they are to me. 

We've more activities planned with the John Henry Newman School in Stevenage and hope that these can still go ahead, as we hope to raise funds for the Papworth Hospital Charity, who are being very supportive and helping us with this. I'm looking forward to the Christmas concert there in December, where we will also be signing and selling books and giving talks with Papworth Hospital Charity about their work and raising awareness about Pulmonary Hypertension and organ donation through my book. The Papworth Hospital Charity are also supporting 'Life is for the Living' on their new and updated website, which is great news for us to help raise awareness and funds. 

There is also our Christmas Transplant Support Group meeting on the 26th November, which is all organised with books on sale there again. If you are a Papworth patient, please let me know if you'd like to come. The Papworth Ely Cathedral carol service is on December 17th, where the charity will have a stall with 'Life is for the Living' on sale too. The Papworth PH group have their Christmas party on Saturday, 12th November. I can't make this one as it clashes with returning from Rose's graduation, but they will have my book on sale there too, helping to raise much needed funds for their very special group. 

If you're going to any of these lovely events and fancy buying a copy of the book or picking up a copy or two for a Christmas pressie then there's your chance and you will be helping us to raise more awareness and funds for fantastic causes. Thanks to everyone who has already purchased it, we are hoping to pass selling a thousand copies by Christmas! 

It's also November and a busy month for promoting awareness of PH - watch out for another blog post soon about all this coming up next... there's a lot happening! 

We also have our lovely friends, Bernice and Scott's wedding evening reception next weekend. Now this is a truly special wedding, as like myself, Bernice received her gift of new life and transplant three years ago. We shared our journeys together and she's gone on to have the most wonderful new life and is living her dreams. Her journey has been an amazing one to watch and it's all thanks to our donors and their families that we can celebrate these special moments. I'm so looking forward to it and meeting up with everyone.

And then there is Sarah's Baby Shower party and Christmas... so there isn't really much time for dwelling on 'what ifs',  just so much to enjoy and be busy with and for living in the moment. The rest will unfold and slot in with whatever we are doing. We will just have to squeeze it in and whatever happens will fit in with us somehow. 

Thanks for reading if you made it this far and haven't fallen asleep, I know it was a long one with so much happening! 

Celebations and Three Years On...

We are now well into October and have finished celebrating some wonderful family occasions and milestones. We arrived back from beautiful Budapest after celebrating Rob's retirement and spent a day unpacking and packing again for a quick turnaround for a long family weekend get together in Whitstable. 

Our first celebration was our twenty sixth wedding anniversary - gosh the year has gone so quickly since we had our special twenty fifth celebration last year. These anniversaries are so important to us. Some ups and downs with health during this last year never fails to remind us to enjoy and make most of every good moment and of course of each day if we can, however the day falls. 

Next up was the extra special event, really the reason we all felt the need to be away together and away from life's pressures; a special time as a family and a time to reflect and be thankful for all the extra time we have been given together. It was the third anniversary of my heart and lung transplant; the day I received my gift of new life and a new start and new beginning. A day for us all to celebrate my life and the life of the wonderful person who was my donor. And also a day to give thanks to my donor's family who also gave their consent to give me my wonderful gift in their time of great sorrow. It was also a day for us to raise a glass to all those that helped save my life and who continue to care for me and keep me safe - all the fabulous staff at Papworth. 

We were able to watch a glorious sunset over the beach and sea in the evening, which felt like such a fitting tribute to this special day. It's been another wonderful year in many ways. We had a wonderful addition to our family in the form of Ted, our cocker spaniel puppy. Another dream come true and being fulfilled since my transplant.

Then there was the publication of my book 'Life is for the Living', another life long ambition come to fruition and I'm hoping it's going to still make a difference in raising awareness of Pulmonary Hypertension and much needed funds for Pulmonary Hypertension and Transplant support over the coming year. Fingers crossed. We've just achieved sales of over 850 copies now and with events and commissions from book sales raised over £2500 now.

Rob and I have enjoyed countless enjoyable occasions with family and friends and been able to be part of many interesting new ventures and projects. It's been another fabulous and great year. 

We thoroughly enjoyed Whitstable and had sunny, breezy and fresh, autumnal weather. We had lots of long family walks with both Alfie and Ted - the two cockers- in tow; coffee and doughnut stops by the harbour, fish and chip suppers, home cooked meals in the rambling beach house we rented, sunsets and roaring log fires - all pretty perfect. We could walk down to the beach from the house, feel the sea breeze in our faces and watch the tide turn and wind change as it reflected in the calm and rough of the waves. 

We've had a few challenges with my health this year, a few hospital blips resulting in more hospital stays and clinics and a closer eye on my health. I think we managed to take them in our stride and wade through them, coming out on top again. We always knew that the transplant road wouldn't be the easiest at times with the infection and rejection risks that transplant can pose, but we have been given a precious gift and I've stayed in better health than pre transplant thanks to receiving my transplant. An extra three fabulous years all thanks to my donor. The tide and the wind have turned in our favour again during this special and sometimes challenging third year and we are forever grateful. 

We finished our lovely break with a special family meal for Rob's birthday - another celebration of how far we have come. We have so much to look forward to and quite soon in this next year post transplant. Both my girls graduate in November - another thing that I'm delighted I'm going to be able to be part of. Then big excitement for the new year - our first grandchild expected in January. I feel priviledged that I've already seen pictures of the baby scans and already felt the baby kicking. Huge family events to look forward to and strive for. 

I'm well underway with my next book 'Heart Boy' - I shall let you guess who that one is about! And some more events, speeches, activities and projects planned to help raise more awareness of organ donation, transplant and pulmonary hypertension. So many busy and exciting things to look forward to. It's surely going to be another great year amongst whatever other unknown challenges or other exciting things that may happen. 

As I finish writing this blog, many of you will already know that we have unexpectedly been thrown a new challenge, which begins this next year, my fourth since transplant. It's unexpected, yet we have probably been always quietly preparing to tackle it head on when it came. Rejection. It's my first big run in with this one, but I know I've been extremely lucky to get this far without having to face it. 

It's a frightening and scary word in our transplant world, but with the dedication and commitment yet again from my wonderful transplant team and the love and support of all our friends and family, we are determined to fight positively through this. And I'm taking great deal of inspiration from a very courageous and brave friend, who has had and is still having a very tough and difficult time. As she encourages me on, she tells me, 'It's what we do Kath.' And it is. We will try and stay positive, take one day and one step at a time and face this head on. After all, there is still so much to strive for and too many wonderful things about life for it to be any other way. 

I will know more about what is happening over the next day or two and will keep you informed soon, but I've been warned and know that these things take time to unravel as each step is taken, so it's probably going to be an ever changing and ongoing process as it coninues to unfold. 

It is because of challenges like this that we have to make the most of every day, grasp every moment, celebrate and make the most of life. That's why we celebrate everything and try to enjoy it and although we've moved on so much from three years ago, that's why we never forget where we moved on from and the person who gave us this opportunity to do so. 

Life can be fragile and unexpected at times for anyone. Enjoy it, live it and reach for all your dreams.

Happy Retirement

Retirement. It's what many of us eventually strive towards, once we've reached all those career orientated goals and are beginning to think it's time to spend time on ourselves more, do those things that we may have always wanted to do, but can't ever fit in between our busy work lives and other commitments. It's something we may think of when our children have flown the nest and are happily established in their own adult lives and we can relax and let go a little. 

The retirement situation has been a little different for Rob and me, but yes, Rob has now finally retired from work. This is after quite a bit of stopping work and then starting again because of my ill health over the years and that's how things have been a little different. Of course, we tried to make the most of all the time he's taken off work, but during those years our time has been peppered with some extreme health issues. It's been a series of high highs and low lows. A rollercoaster until I received my transplant and transplant still does not come without its ups and downs and trials and tribulations. Having transplanted heart and lungs is a condition that needs to be permanently managed and does usually come with a shortened life expectancy. We are forever aware of this. 

We decided at the last minute to go on a city break to Budapest to celebrate Rob's retirement. We had a few reasons for deciding to do this, obviously his retirement being a big factor and being yet another excuse to celebrate, as life is so precious nowadays and we don't need much excuse. It's a case of when the going is good, try and reach for the stars while you can and while they're there in front of you. 

I don't think Rob was that bothered about travelling abroad though, when I first mentioned that maybe we should do something special to celebrate his retirement. We'd been very fortunate and enjoyed a few lovely weekend breaks and holidays in England this year. We've had so much beautiful weather too, which seemed to be continuing on and on. 

I felt quite strongly we should mark it with something special though, as Rob was forced to quit his career when I fell poorly and became my carer almost overnight following my diagnosis of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH).  I literally had to walk out of my career too. There were no 'leaving', 'retirement' or 'moving on' celebrations, the usual get togethers with colleagues for a farewell drink or meal, we merely walked out on our usual routines and daily lives and careered head on into a battle for survival, uncertainties and the unknown. 

On retrospect, we couldn't ever halt or change how things happened and the course of what was to come and I've managed to survive and have improved health so that's all that matters for us both. I've always felt guilty and saddened that Rob had to give up so much to live with an uncertain future and I was pleased he'd been able to return to work since my transplant, albeit being part time and contract work, which suited our situation. I felt it was good for him to have his work, the opportunity to be in the real world and not always being in what has become our other world of hospital and transplantation. 

This time around Rob has decided for himself to retire and I'm delighted he's been able to have this opportunity without it being forced upon him; that he's been able to make his own deliberate choice. It feels like the more normal and planned for retirement I think he always deserved. That's the main reason I felt his retirement should be marked somehow; to make some sort of stance that we got there in the end; that we've both reached retirement together although we went a long way round to achieve it. 

It's been a lovely time for Rob during his last few days at work, enjoying celebrations with his colleagues and being able to leave in what has been a more usual manner. I've felt so pleased, after all the years of him struggling with work on and off because of my needs, that his working life has eventually finished on more of a high and more how he would have planned and dreamed of before I ever fell ill.

Another reason why I wanted to travel abroad again was because of my health. It's been a year since we travelled abroad and I know that I've been really fortunate to be able to do lots of travelling since my transplant and especially visiting several countries abroad during my second year post transplant. My health has been more challenging this year though. 

It started with a difficult bout of CMV virus last November, which resulted in being hospitalised for weeks and over Christmas, being unwell for a few months and has been what seems an ongoing battle to keep it under control, prevent it reactivating and dealing with the resulting havoc it has caused ever since. This manifests itself with stomach and colon inflammation and ulceration and the associated pain and severe fatigue. I've worked hard to try and overcome this with diet, exercise and pacing myself more. My transplant team have also been more than helpful and are still monitoring me very closely and regularly, adjusting my medications so things are kept in good control. I'm still having monthly CMV tests and clinics more regularly than I had been, which I'm happy about, as it gives me the reassurances I need.

I'd had to cancel quite a lot of things we'd been looking forward to during some of these difficult periods, so I could recharge myself, help myself better and get myself back to the good health I'd been enjoying since my transplant. Regaining my health was the most important thing, so it didn't matter so much to have to cancel in the scheme of things. It's always good to plan things to look forward to, but if things don't go as planned, it really doesn't matter. We accept this happening as part of our lives now. Attempting to go abroad again though, felt like it would be a big step. A step that would be a small victory against all this year's health problems and show myself I can overcome them and still make the most of everything life offers when the going is good. 

We love city breaks and seeing new cultures and places and this time we chose Budapest -  we've drawn ourselves up another list of cities and places we'd like to see and this was a favourite. We managed to have a wonderful time, exploring yet another new place, seeing new sights, enjoying more beautiful sunshine, having fun and celebrating retirement and life. It was another chance to live life to its fullest before we reached the end of my third year post transplant and it always goes without saying, all thanks to my donor.

Of course, we don't take this period of 'retirement' for granted. Reaching this stage in life is an enormous bonus, it's something many people don't have the chance to have, so I see growing a little older as a complete priviledge not something we should moan about. I often laugh how the government keep changing the state pension ages - I know it's not a laughing matter really. State pensions are becoming ridiculously out of reach for the healthiest of people. Everyone worries about how they will manage, but I know if I'm ever lucky enough to reach the sixty seven years it is currently, then it will be a nice problem for me to have. In the meantime, Rob and I plan to keep ourselves busy with things that mean the most to us and keep on enjoying life to the full. 

Graduations and Babies

It's been quite a lovely week here in the Graham family as we have lots of good news to share. 

Firstly, both Rose and David have achieved firsts for their university degrees, so we were all really delighted and thrilled for them as they can now both move on with confidence to new careers and ventures. David had his graduation this week and it's been lovely seeing the photographs. 

Rob  and I are both really proud of Rose. I can always remember, hoping that I would see her complete her degree and graduate. Her graduation isn't until November, so I have that wonderful milestone to look forward to now.  It's something that I didn't expect I would ever see a few years ago, so knowing she's completed her degree and achieved a first is pretty special and we're already making plans for going back to Dorset when she actually graduates. More celebations to look forward to ahead. 

We are particularly proud of her as it wasn't so easy for her with the worries over my health. During her first year I was already listed for and waiting for my heart and lung transplant and I was often in and out of hospital and I know it was difficult for her being so far away from home worrying over what was going on. Then when she started her second year, she had to come straight back home on her first day back at university because I had my transplant call. She had to cope with me being in a coma for a while and the worries that came over my initial recovery. 

For me personally, it feels a big moment and another one of those special times where it makes me stop and realise how precious life is, what a miracle organ donation can be and it makes me feel even more grateful to my donor. We need to keep raising awareness of organ donation though, so that others can be given a second chance like I have. There are still around six thousand five hundred people waiting for a transplant, their lives and their families lives on hold while they do. 

We've also been keeping a secret for a while and have been bursting to tell everyone the news. This week we're finally allowed to share that Sarah and Oli are expecting a baby in January, so I'm going to be a grandma for the first time. We've seen the pictures of the first scan, which are pretty amazing and show so much more detail than I remember when I had my scans for Sarah and Rose. I'm so excited and again feel how amazing it all is that I've been given these chances. I'd always hoped for this moment and it's wonderful to have the chance to see the baby in the scan pictures, I can't wait for January now. Again, it all feels very poignant and I'm so thankful to my donor who has given me these moments. 

My book 'Life is for the Living' is still flourishing and selling and this week sales have topped over six hundred and fifty, which I'm delighted about. I hope that with this many sales I've been able to spread a little more awareness about what it is like to live with Pulmonary Hypertension and how important organ donation is. There has been some wonderful feedback and I know readers have been passing the book around to share with friends and help spread the word. Rob received a lovely text from a friend who had bought a copy for his friend who's a GP. He's now going to use the book when he trains new medical students. I think this text made my day - it's that thought that there are people out there who will now have a better understanding of what it's like living with rare disease and transplantation. 

A massive thanks to everyone who has helped me achieve this and bought, recommended or reviewed the book. I'm soon going to be able to make some more donations to the charities and support groups that are close to my heart and it's all thanks to you. 

Where have the years gone?

I remember packing the car up, stuffed full of cases, bedding, duvets, pillows, pots, pans...and all the rest. Taking my daughter Rose for her first year at University. Years of studying ahead. I couldn't really think beyond the four years she would be there, just hoped I'd see the day when it came. 

At the time I'd been waiting for a year on the transplant list and had been determined to travel down to Bournemouth so I could see where Rose would be living and where she would be studying. I thought I'd at least have a picture in my head and photos to remind me, should I not be fit enough to manage to visit again. 

I wanted to help her move in her halls of residence while I could still be mum. In truth I managed to help empty a few cases in between resting on her bed, while she and Rob lugged all her stuff up and down in lifts. I felt a little helpless as other parents where all carrying bags and boxes piled high while I was empty handed, but at least I'd been well enough to achieve what I'd wanted. Just to see and know where she'd be, see her settled in. 

We had to fit my wheelchair in the car somehow, plus a box load of boxes of bottles and phials for my IV meds. We had a lot of ups and downs with my health during that first year, but we also enjoyed many special moments in Dorset as we visited Rose. Fun times on the beach, exploring new places and making new memories. 

Rose returned for her second year and moved in a house this time, rather than the halls of residence, again. I just wanted to see where she would be living, help her move in her new home once again. I felt lucky to do this. I remember forgetting the spare pump for my medication when we'd driven half way there and we had to turn back. I knew I was deteriorating. She'd only been there two weeks and on her first official Monday of term, I had my transplant call. I couldn't see her before I went to theatre, which was hard and difficult for both of us. 

Then life changed, I recovered and improved, Rose spent her third year back home and undertaking a work placement, which gave us so much time together. When her final year arrived I was able to help move her in properly, do things as anyone else would. And now that year's ended, Rose has completed her degree. So much has happened in those four years, so many life changing things, so many new memories made. 

This weekend we visited Dorset again, one last moment with Rose there, before she left for good. Some more lovely memories as we walked miles and miles together, made new plans, walked Ted our puppy, his first visit to Dorset. 

It's been a wonderful thing to see and be part of, another wonderful milestone, another one of those firsts and a milestone for Rose too. I'd always dreamed and hoped I would see this moment and now she is back home again, university degree finished, waiting for results and starting a new future. 

It is thanks to organ donation. It'is thanks to modern science and a fabulous skilled transplant team. It is thanks to my donor's family and above all to my donor.