My thanks for 2015

Well, as 2015 draws to a close, I can honestly say I am truly blessed to have been able to make it to my 25th birthday and also Christmas. None of this would of been possible if it wasn't for my donor and his donors family, and all the hard work that Papworth hospital have done! I want to take this chance to thank everyone who has made it possible.

To all the staff at Nottingham University Hospital Wolfson CF Centre that were there through the worst times I can ever remember health wise, you kept me sane and we're the catalyst in me getting my lungs. You didn't stand by and watch me deteriorate anymore unlike others, you actively forced me through and onto the transplant list and saved my lives so to Dr Dewar and Dr Clayton and your simply amazing team THANK YOU!

To Jas and Debs, and all the team at Papworth thank you for giving me the chance to go into the waiting list and believing in me to change my compliance issues around, thank you for allowing me to see another birthday and Christmas and hopefully countless more, and giving me the opportunity to try for a family, get married (eventually) and live a long and prosperous life!

To my donor and you're family, I cannot put into words just how much you have changed mine and my families lives. You have sadly lost your life at such a young age, and now it is my duty unto you to do the things in life you were destined to do, I am not going to sit back and waste the extra time you have given me! I am planning my future with Emily, and we plan to have children, get married and travel as much as possible, all while working hard and hopefully running our own house! 2016 is a year that I would not have seen if it wasn't for you or your family and now it is my chance to excel and kickstart a career that I've wanted to do for over 5 years! Thank you so so much for what you have done for me. You're families selflessness is beyond words and now I will live my life not only for myself and my family, but for you and yours! Thank you to the stranger I never met who saved my life.

2015 has been a massive year for organ donation and Cystic Fibrosis and both have gained way more media attention this year than any other year in my life i can remember. I hope that 2016 builds upon the attention and we eventually see the opt in system changed to opt out and many more transplant operations going ahead! I know many people who have passed away this year waiting for a transplant, I also know countless that have been as lucky as me and received a transplant, but unfortunately not all of them have had the success I have so far had, and they also are no longer with us. I also know way too many people struggling at home and in hospital awaiting double lung transplants! I sincerely hope 2016 brings the gift of life to as many of you as possible and you all come out the other side and do as well if not better than I have done!

I'd like to thank you all for reading my blog and following my journey this year and I'd also like to say that although I haven't updated much since transplant I will be looking into doing a catch up blog in the new year, it will involve details on my new job and also a challenge I have set myself to complete in 2016.

I wish you ALL a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2016 good luck to you all and I hope your wishes and dreams come true!

The final meet before listing

Wednesday 13th May

Today was a very early wake up call because I'm in Notts on IVs!  So 6am I'm awake and out the bed, I'm washed and dressed and on the road to Birmingham to get mom by 6.15am! The drive home was very uneventful except for the traffic jams all the way home! So my 1 hour drive on a normal trip turned into almost 2 hours which didn't please me.

I pick mom up and we are on the way to Papworth. Pretty chatty drive to begin with then mom gets the Patient Advice Transplant info booklet out I was given the week before and begins to refresh her mind on everything but she manages to fall asleep in record time and the majority of the drive I am chatting to myself in my head about what the different outcomes of the day could be.

Mom wakes up as we get a lot closer to Papworth and says to me 'playing devils advocate, if they tell you today your ineligible for a transplant are you still going to do all your treatment and look after yourself' and without a single thought I reply with an answer that I think shocked her, I said 'No mom, what would the point in that be?' And that was that conversation over very quickly and a very nervous looking mom sat next to me.

We arrive at Papworth and mom drops me off so I go in and check in, the waiting room is packed, there is one or two separate seats and other than that there's standing room only!!

As usual I require a blood test so I put my backpack on the seat I sat in to reserve it and I make my way to the vampires to be bled! It's only 8 bottles they need today so it's not to bad. Once I'd been bled I went back out into the waiting room and awaited my call to go through and meet the surgeon.

Considering clinic is so full my wait to see the surgeon is Pretty short and im called round by Tracey to meet him, we walk in and shake hands and I sit down and he begins to talk and tell me he sees no reason why he won't be able to do the operation, he tells me my lungs are hyperinflated which has made my rib cage bigger so I would be able to have larger lungs transplanted if they became available which is great news, as this makes the pool of lungs available to me bigger, and he tells me all about the operation. He explains the risks and goes through the different types of donors with me and asks me if I'd take lungs from any donor or if I'd be picky and fussy, I'm in no position to be picky so I sign the paperwork to say I'll take any lungs they see fit to transplant into me!!

The chat with the surgeon is concluded with the signing of all the paperwork and the answer to the biggest question I have had all through the process, can I have a photograph of my lungs when they are taken out of me to which I'm told yes but to remind him on the night, so I'm a happy guy!

I walk back into the waiting area and sit down and the wait begins to be called through to meet the anaesthetist and have my neck ultrasound scanned to make sure there is a good enough artery for my central line during transplant surgery for all the medication post transplant. To my amazement after having 5 ports all that is fine and he is more than happy for me to be listed, so I am taken back out into the waiting room to wait to speak to Paul to have my pre listing chat.

After a short wait and a quick phone call to Emily to tell her the good news that i am able to be listed, Paul calls me through and goes through what will happen now I've been put onto the active list.

He asks if we have any questions and  answers all of them for us. He then tells us what happens on the night you receive  the call. And tells me that if its him that calls me and its out of office hours he usually opens up the call with 'Its a bit late for a social call' to which we have a laugh and a joke. He goes through all the logistics of getting from wherever I am in the mainland of the UK to Papworth, and also what happens if I receive a false alarm.

I was then told the Do's and Don'ts of being on the transplant list, I was expecting a massive list so was pretty shocked when the Do's were, Do live your life. An the Don'ts were, Don't live your life waiting for the call!!

We finish chatting about everything and leave to come home knowing that I would be listed by either Friday or that week or Monday of the following at the latest as there's been a few admin issues recently at Papworth as they are having a new computer system fitted!

So we drive away from Papworth hospital knowing I'll be receiving a phone call soon to say I'm on the active list and I couldn't of been happier! When the surgeon got the paperwork out to sign I felt like a childhood dream of signing a professional contract with a football team was happening or I was signing the contract on the career of my life!

I know that once I'm on that list it's a lottery, it's a waiting game, but unless you have a ticket you can't win the lottery can you! This transplant is going to give me the future I want with Em and hopefully allow us to start our own little family and get a house together and me get a job so I can look after my princess like a real man should!