Dr Sharon Millen and Arthur Goan, from RVH Liver Support Group, joined with their colleagues, LISN, (Liver Ireland Support Network) in Dublin on Saturday October 19th where LISN launched their Autumn Joint Educational Meeting. The meeting was also joined by the medical team from the Irish Liver Foundation. Attendees were given updates on end stage/chronic liver disease, auto-immune liver diseases as well as updates on LISN evolvement. These presentations were made by both medical professionals and committee members of LISN as well as our very own Dr Sharon Millen who, along with Dr Karol Donnelly, launched their booklet titled “Living with Liver Disease and as a Transplant Patient-Managing Your Mental Health”

On Thursday 28th of September Annie and I  headed off to London to meet the other “liver families” from Birmingham children’s hospital. We stayed in the premier inn where we had a lovely meal and got to meet our taxi driver, Andy, for the weekend. On Friday morning we had a VERY early start as the taxi was taking us at 5am to Canary Wharf for a big breakfast with the 100 other families before setting off on our adventure! The city of London police and the French gendarmerie stopped the traffic to allow the 100 taxis, 3 ambulances, medical staff taxis and the AA to travel in a large convoy the whole way to Dover and then from Calais to Disneyland. En route we stopped for a fuel stop and all the local French people came out to put on lots of treats and entertainment for everyone. We arrived on Friday evening at the hotel Cheyenne in the Disneyland resort and stayed there for 2 nights. Early Saturday morning we set of to spend a day of fun in the theme park and it was such a magical experience for everyone! Annie’s favourite rides were Thunder mountain and the Hollywood tower of terror but she loved ALL the rides we went on….all 17 of them that we managed to fit in!! On Saturday night we got all dressed up and we went to the New York hotel for a gala dinner and disco. On Sunday morning before setting off for the journey back to London, the emergency services gave the children the opportunity to go on the motorbikes, police’s cars etc and make lots of noise with the sirens and horns!
Annie and I were so honoured to have been chosen to attend this once in a lifetime trip where we were treated like royalty from start to finish.

During Organ Donation Week our members, Rachel Quinney-Mee (committee) and Rachel Chambers scaled Slieve Donard along with 30 other people to mark #organdonationweek. The event which was run locally by Organ Donation Northern Ireland saw keen hikers from across the UK climb the highest peaks in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Thankfully the weather held up and everyone had a great day sharing their transplant stories and experiences. Thanks to Organ Donation NI for organising.

It was brilliant to see another great attendance at our Groomsport coffee morning today. Thanks to everyone at The Stables for their welcome and assistance.

Keep checking our social media channels for details of our next venues. ☕️🙂

The British Transplant Games were held recently in Nottingham and Transplant Sport Northern Ireland (TSNI) was well represented with many participants from all over N Ireland. Among them were several of our liver transplant patients, Jim Kilpatrick, Sharon Millen, Paul Lawler, Rachel Chambers, Lucyellen Johnston, Grace Kelly and Indie Hogan.

These games are held each year and the representation from Northern Ireland is increasing year on year. It is a great opportunity to meet and compete with other transplant patients whether they be liver, kidney, lungs or even heart. In addition to this, the competitive spirit and comradery experienced and indeed enjoyed by those who attend add to their overall wellbeing. It is truly an ideal way of making new friends and even, for some, the rekindling of previous expertise.

This year the overall medal count for N Ireland participants was as follows: –

8 x Gold; 14 x Silver and 11 x Bronze.

And those won by liver participants from N Ireland: –

1 x Gold – Sharon (Ladies 3K walk)

6 x Silver – Paul (archery), Jim (10-pin), Sharon (200m & discus), Rachel (discus & long jump)

1 x Bronze – Rachel (archery

In addition, Sharon won the TSNI ‘Best Athlete of the Games’ Award, and Paul was the unanimous winner (along with Sandra) of the TSNI ‘Spirit of the Games’ Award.

We, in the RVH Liver Support Group, would love to see more of our liver patients consider taking part in the games at a future date. And you don’t have to be fully fledged athlete to take part!! There are many games in which you can take part and, so that you know, the next games are planned as follows: (2025 BTG in Oxford 31 Jul – 3 Aug and 2025 World Games in Dresden 17 – 24 August).

The possible entries are Archery, Bowling,10 pin Bowling, Darts, Snooker, Golf, Cycling, Swimming, pétanque, Squash, Badminton, Basketball, Football, Tennis, Table Tennis, Athletics (100m,200m,400m,800m, 1500m), Discus, Shot Put, Javelin, Long Jump and High Jump.

In addition, there are also many sports specifically geared towards transplanted children of all ages who, in our case, would compete with Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Would you like to take part in the Games next year? Please email us at rvhlsg@gmail.com with the heading “transplant games” and we will send out further information. And, don’t forget, there is no need to be a former sports competitor!!

Committee members Patricia and Rachel met with the Milligan family recently to receive a donation of £505 which was raised following the sad passing of Philip’s grandad,