Lets help Ben fulfill his Bucket List

November 25, 2011 in Featured, Latest News, Your Stories | Organ Donor Recipients

ben hughes bucket listA while ago i posted an amazing self-penned story by Ben Hughes (link at the end of the post) who had received a Heart and Lung transplant at the QE Birmingham and had also recently married the love of his life Ayla.

Sadly Ben received the news that his new lungs were in chronic rejection and can not be cured. He has endured 10 weeks of radiotherapy to slow down the rejection process (yes, the very same treatment Donna received) and now needs constant oxygen and is in a wheelchair. They have since been told that Ben will be lucky to be here in 6 months time.

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Donna’s Dream Organ Donation Awareness Clothing

October 18, 2011 in Latest News

Organ Donation HoodiesGreat news! Donna’s Dream can now offer our awesome T-Shirts and Hoodies to raise awareness for Organ Donation through the website!

You can choose from white or black designs and T-Shirts or fitted ladies tops as well as zipped or unzipped hoodies. Whats more ive decided to use Google checkout to process your order so you can have peace of mind that you can pay securely and safely as Google are massive!
Please note, these items are made to order and can take upto a couple of weeks to make (worst case scenario!). If you need an item sooner please let me know and ill have a word with the printer :)
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Should Organ Donors get their Funeral Expenses paid?

October 15, 2011 in Latest News

donor-card-funeral-expenses

It’s taken me a while to post about this story due to other important things ive had on this week.
It seems the bods over at Nuffield Council on Bioethics suggest the government should try out a system whereby registered Organ Donors get their funeral expenses paid. They feel this would improve the amount of people signing up to the organ donor register.

Personally I’m not sure where I stand on this. True it WOULD increase the amount of new signups, that’s a given, but would it be for all the wrong reasons? Would it make people who are already on it un-register for moral issues? Would it take away the ‘Gift’ element?

Im really not sure myself. Whilst I really want a massive increase in the amount of people signed up to the register I don’t think this is the way forward. Opt out, well that’s another story and I DO think that is the direction we should take.
Anyway, the reason for this post! What do you think about, what are your arguments for or against it? Id really like to hear them so please reply using the comments box at the end of this post ?

Az x

This was also featured on Loose Women on ITV who have also opened a discussion on their website which can be found here: Loose Women: Would you donate your organs if your funeral was paid for?

Links to the full story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15242675

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/poll/2011/oct/11/funeral-expenses-nhs?newsfeed=true

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8818109/Pay-funeral-costs-of-organ-donors-says-think-tank.html

If you have been inspired by this story please consider joining the NHS Organ Donor Register by clicking the banner below:
Click Here to sign the Organ Donor Register

Meet The Team

October 10, 2011 in Latest News

Meet the Team

Our new Donna’s Dream Team is having our very first meeting on Feb 27th! After that I will be updating this page to show who is who and what we do (im a poet!).

While your here please head on over to our lively facebook page and join in the conversation!

ITV’s Exposure show “Heart Hospital” highlights the transplant team at the QE Birmingham

October 9, 2011 in Latest News

 

ITV is to show the third in its Exposure series which this week has intimate access to the Heart transplant team at the Queen Elizabeth hospital Birmingham.

The 1 hour show aims to investigate the severe lack of donor organs available for transplant in britain today.

The film follows three patients and their families as they embark on a long and daunting journey towards receiving a transplant and also showcases a rare opportunity to witness part of the heart transplant surgery.

Featured in the show is professor Robert Bonser (who performed both of Donna’s heart transplants) who has worked and led the transplant team at the QE Birmingham for over 20 years. Robert has, in that time, performed over fifteen thousand heart operations, 250 of which have been heart transplants.

Unfortunately he has also noted that the number of transplants carried out in the UK have dropped by two thirds to just 100 each year.


You can watch this exciting show up until 8th November via the ITV Player by clicking HERE

If you have been inspired by this story please consider joining the NHS Organ Donor Register by clicking the banner below:
Click Here to sign the Organ Donor Register

Evening Times looking for someone from the Glasgow area to share their Transplant story

October 7, 2011 in Latest News

I received an email from Caroline Wilson who is a reporter for The Evening Times in Scotland.

The newspaper is launching a campaign next month which aims to persuade the Scottish goverment to adopt a presumed consent (opt out) policy on Organ Donation.

She is looking A family from the Glasgow area who have lost someone who was waiting for a transplant and is in favour of presumed consent particular if they were a child or young adult.

They are also keen to speak to people who are waiting for transplant.

If you would like to participate please email Caroline at caroline.wilson@heraldandtimes.co.uk or call her direct on 0141 302 6535.

You can also give me your details to pass on HERE

Who wants to do a Transplant related Radio interview to raise awareness for Organ Donation?

October 7, 2011 in Latest News

Calder JonThis week we had a link posted to the Donna’s Dream Facebook wall by Helen Laverty. Her partner, Calder, has an internet Radio show entitled “Calders Confessions” and would like to do a show featuring people affected by Organ Donation and transplant.

If you would like to take part in a recorded interview to share your experiences please inbox Helen HERE or contact me HERE.

Please pop along to Calders Facebook page http://www.caldersconfessions.com/ and why bnot listen to some of his previous shows at http://calderjon.podomatic.com/

Here is the original request from Helen:

Hi everyone this is my partners radio show he did a show dedicated to Southampton’s children’s cardiac surgery during our safe and sustainable campaign in fact its how we met :) .

He would love to do a show to raise awareness of the whole story surrounding transplants to share with as many people as possible the reality and importance of being on the donor register and how fragile the process is for people waiting for transplant, the donor families and the recipient and their family and the difference it makes to all concerned.

Would anyone be willing to do a recorded interview to share their experiences with as many people as we can? At the moment it is an internet broadcasted show and pod but as soon as Calder Jon is back on a radio station he will air it again.

Please inbox me if you would be willing to share your story. If you wish to remain anonymous we can read your story out without any identifying details for you xxxx