Hi everyone! Wow what a busy few weeks... lots of things going on!

I'm enjoying being an Auntie and have been round to visit Mum, Dad and Baby lots. Its actually my Bro's birthday today so bought him a cake from Abigail saying "Happy Birthday Daddy, Lots of Love Abigail!"

The first bit of news is that Live Life Then Give Life won the Charity Times Award for "Campaigning Team of the year!" So big congrats to them, they do a great job of raising awareness of organ donation through talks and the media etc and supporting people who are waiting for a transplant (I know this first hand) The judges at the awards said they were"an outstanding campaign made up of many effective and innovative strands and approaches, achieving great success”! I say here here!

In other news the Battlefront campaign (on organ donation) is going great and I have been at number one from about 2 days after I uploaded it which is fantastic, so if you have voted, thank you I really appreciate it. Heres a bit more about the campaign...



"Did you know that 1000 people die every year because of the shortage of organ donors in the UK? In 2005 I went on the kidney transplant waiting list after a sudden illness caused kidney failure. I'm now kept alive by a dialysis machine which I’m attached to 3 times each week. For many others on the waiting list this isn't an option - for them an organ transplant is a matter of life and death. My campaign will raise awareness of organ donation and encourage more people to think, talk and do something about it. As a result, this campaign will save and transform lives, perhaps even my own. Waiting is tough! However I have seen the difference a transplant can make and this gives me hope for the future that I will be able to do the things I have dreamt of."

I have had loads of comments which are lovely to read too, the entries have closed now but you can keep voting until the 8th so keep going if your computer allows you to do it more than once! If you haven't already done so please vote here. An article appeared on a local website about my campaign, you can read that here. I get a phonecall on the 9th/10th to let me know if I have made it into the top 10 and if so then its over to the judges. So I'll keep you updated!

I also started back to uni this week, Its scary to think how the time has flown! I can't believe I'm in my 3rd year, doing my dissertation! Next year I'll be out in the scary wide world! So this is were the hardwork starts!

On Saturday me and my folks went to Blackpool for the day which was lovely, we went in the tower to see the circus which was fab but some of the acrobats left my heart in my throat!

Me and Mum on the Pier!

Me and Dad on the Pier!

On sunday me and my friend Hanne along with her Daughter Ellie went to the open day at the local firestation, we pretended that we were taking Ellie but in reality we were looking for hunky fireman! We were really disappointed as they were all old! Ellie enjoyed the afternoon though and even got a sit in the fire engine!

Me and Ellie in the Fire engine!

On Tuesday night I met with the lovely Emma and Brad from Live Life Then Give Life! We had a lovely evening of chat (some intellectual and some not so) and a meal! We talked about LLTGL and the battlefront campaign, thanks for all your help Em. I have invited them to come up for a weekend in the future (Em if your reading this, I hope you take us up on the offer.) It feels like we have known eachother for ages and yet have only met twice, It would be great to spend some more time together! Heres some pics....

Emma, Me and Brad

Me and Emma

On the health front I've not been to bad, a few weeks back the nurses at dialysis were a bit concerned about my high pulse. They told me to go to my GP which I did, she checked it and it wasn't too bad but ordered a TFT blood test (thyroid function test) which came back normal, so everything is fine. I started getting a bit worried when one of the dialysis nurses said "Have you ever seen a heart consultant!"

As for my Fistula its still a bit sore on needling and you can still feel the stent under the skin, I will be asking the surgeon about this when I go and get it scanned on the 13th. I'm also seeing my dialysis consultant that week on the 15th so I'll see how everything is ticking along then. This months clearance was 75% which is good for 3 hours and the highest its ever been for me.

Sorry this blog has been a bit bitty with news...