Wendy Howe

Wendy (r) with fellow transplant athletes Sharon Millen and Philip Cairnduff on her return to Belfast from the 2016 British Transplant Games.

On 28^th December 2012 Wendy Howe spent her birthday receiving a liver and kidney transplant at Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital, Birmingham. Very ill since 1998 with a hereditary polycystic kidney disease that compromised her liver, she had been on the transplant waiting list for 18 months.  Post-transplant recovery was tough but she was helped through it by the support of her three children, the expertise of medical staff and her dream of returning to Groomsport before the last lapwings left at the end of March. When she got home they were waiting for her.

Before her transplant Wendy’s liver had become so enlarged that she could only sleep propped up by a pillow. Exercise made her breathless, she felt full very quickly at mealtimes and became upset when people assumed from her appearance that she was pregnant. These experiences were consistent over more than 13 years of illness but became steadily more unpleasant as time went on. Her youngest daughter graduated in 2012 and Wendy was too ill to find the joy in the experience that she desperately wanted to. Just over a year later, on October 8^th 2014, her first grandchild Ryan was born and this time, well restored to health, her joy was complete.

After her transplant Wendy initially built up physical stamina by taking walks in the country. In the longer term her recovery was helped significantly by the professional expertise of medical staff in the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Belfast City Hospital, and by the friendship of people in local charities Transplant Sport Northern Ireland and the RVH Liver Support Group. She sees the transplant community in Northern Ireland as a family to which she is very proud to belong. She competes regularly in the British Transplant Games, works voluntarily in an Advice centre and sketches wildlife. Recently she swam in the sea for the first time in 25 years and now does so 2 or 3 times a week.

The sense of being blessed by a donor’s gift is a common feeling amongst transplant recipients but Wendy feels doubly blessed as the recipient of two organs from the same donor. She says: When I think of my donor and their family I am overwhelmed by how generous people can be. The kindness of strangers to me has inspired me to be more sensitive to other’s needs, particularly in my voluntary work. The gift of a new life certainly leads to greater empathy with people in difficult circumstances.

Please join the organ donor register, tell your family and friends you have done so and offer the gift of life to someone like Wendy.

It is a gift that will be cherished.

 Online: organdonation.nhs.uk                    By phone 0300 123 23 23

GORDON KIRK

Gordon and Lynn Kirk

Gordon Kirk had ascites for years and due to what his wife Lynn calls the usual man thing he delayed seeing a doctor.  Neither a heavy drinker nor a smoker, he never thought for a moment that his ascites might be liver-related.  Eventually blood tests revealed a liver abnormality; then scans revealed a clot in the vena cava restricting blood flow to the liver; and after a referral to the Royal Victoria Hospital in 2014, a previously undetected clot in the portal vein was discovered.  By this time cirrhosis had set in and Gordon needed a transplant urgently.

 Before the clot in his portal vein was discovered, Gordon had been an outpatient in a local hospital for 8 years and although his condition was deemed stable, he was jaundiced and had very poor sleep patterns.  After cirrhosis set in he suffered encephalopathy so alarming that he was tested for a stroke.  His transplant finally went ahead in November 2015 after three false starts within nine months – he and Lynn had been called to King’s College Hospital in London and told, for different reasons each time, that the transplant could not go ahead.

 Asked what is different for Gordon after his transplant, Lynn’s answer is simple – everything.  Gordon is alert, active and happy.  Lynn does not have to speak for him as she did in the days when he was too weak and lethargic to speak for himself.  Both she and their daughter Andrea are still getting used to Gordon being fully involved in their life as a family, still not completely aware to the sheer scale of his recovery.  Gordon enjoys an active lifestyle, with a renewed interest in D.I.Y. and he has returned to his boating activities and to driving.

Gordon says: I am immensely grateful to the teams at RVH and Kings College Hospital for their patience and care.  Of course I will always remain deeply grateful to the anonymous donor and his family for making my recovery possible.  At ten months post-transplant I now have renewed optimism and look forward to tackling the future with vigour and optimism.

Please join the organ donor register, tell your family and friends you have done so and offer the gift of life to someone like Gordon.

It is a gift that will be cherished.   

Philip Cairnduff

In August 2004 Philip Cairnduff returned to Belfast from a Habitat for Humanity building project in Africa very sick and very jaundiced. 5 days later, after being transferred to Kings College Hospital in London, he suffered acute liver failure.  Doctors gave him eight hours to live unless a suitable organ became available for transplant.  Fortunately one did.  He received the transplant that saved his life less than a week after his 18^th birthday.

Before his transplant Philip was a Sixth Form student at Belfast Inst who had successfully completed AS examinations and was looking forward to starting his A2 year.  Outside school he was heavily involved in the life and work of his church.  His sporting life amounted to little more than cross country runs at school on games afternoons.

After his transplant Philip became an Advanced Motorist, completed a French and Spanish degree at Coleraine University (he lived abroad in Belgium and Spain during his 3^rd year), competed regularly in the British Transplant Games, represented Team GB at the World Games in Argentina in 2015 and became the first liver recipient to complete the Belfast Marathon in May 2016.  He ran the marathon in memory of his donor who would have been 60 this year had she lived.

He says: Our lives are shaped by the people we meet but among the most significant people in my life is a family I’ve never met.  Whoever they are and wherever they are, I live each day in gratitude to them and hope that they would be proud of all my achievements.

Please join the organ donor register, tell your family and friends and offer the gift of life to someone like Philip.

It is a gift that will be cherished.

Organ Donation week runs from September 5^th until September 11^th.

In recognition of this the RVH Liver Support group will be posting Before and After stories on its website during the week.  Each day a new story will tell of a liver recipient’s life transformed by the generosity of strangers.  The stories will illustrate the gift of life gratefully received and put to very good use by those fortunate enough to receive it.

You may well be familiar with some of the stories.  Please read and reflect on them anyway and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to read them as well.  Let’s hope that the power of these stories will help add more names to the donor register.

You will find them posted each day in the Stories section of the site.

Millbrook Lodge Fundraising Evening

Eddie Madine joined friends and family for a belated 50^th birthday party at Millbrook Lodge on Thursday 12^th May.  All proceeds from the evening went to the RVH Liver Support Group.

Eddie Madine presents the proceeds of his fundraiser to Kay Duffy, founder of the RVH Liver Support Group

 

Early in the evening Donald Cairnduff, chair of the RVH Liver Support Group, had spoken about the work of the charity in patient care, supplying necessary resources for the treatment of liver patients in the RVH and the promotion of the Organ Donor register.

It was a lively and enjoyable event.  Guests enjoyed supper to an accompaniment of songs from a wide range of eras to suit a wide range of ages, provided by DJ Johnny Quinn.  There was a display of Irish dancing by dancers from the Fegan – Curran  School of Irish Dancing.  An auction was led by Mr. Ian Wilson of Wilson’s Auctions and the evening ended with dancing to the Michael English Band.

 

A sum of £5,005 was raised and handed over to the charity’s founder, Kay Duffy, on the afternoon of 10^th June.  All connected with the RVH Liver Support Group are very grateful for the time and effort that Eddie and his friends have put in to raise this magnificent total.

Eddie is on the list for a liver transplant.  Let’s hope he doesn’t have to wait long before he gets the call that will restore him to full health.

Our annual carvery lunch for members was held on Sunday 22 May in the Seagoe Hotel in Portadown and it was a resounding success with some 80 members present. We had a private room this year and were extremely well looked after by the hotel management and staff. It turned out to be a lengthy afternoon which indicated the number of very useful conversations that were taking place. Members were delighted to meet others with similar stories to tell and similar experiences were recounted. It was well after 5.30 when the afternoon drew to a close. These photos show some of the members enjoying their day out.

Philip Cairnduff, the first ever liver recipient to run the Belfast Marathon, presents a cheque to Kay Duffy

Our chairman Donald Cairnduff talks with some of our members

 

A group of members pose for the camera with Kay Duffy

Eileen Hearst was circulating with the guests

Joyce and Michael Britt present a donation from their 50th wedding anniversary gifts to Founder Kay Duffy

Almost a year after his wife Nuala passed on, Andrew Hanna ran a very successful coffee morning and ballot in her memory in the Church of Ireland Halls in Irvinestown on Saturday 7^th May. The event raised the remarkable total of £4,245.25  for the work of the  RVH Liver Support Group.

The morning was notable for many things – the excellent catering, the steady stream of people coming and going from 11 a.m. until after 1 p.m. and, above all else, the calm and dignified way in which the family talked about their loss.

• The Hanna family: back l-r Jamie, Andrew and Gerald; front l-r Nicola, Kirsty and Sinead.

 

The ballot draw was at 1.15 p.m.  By this stage most of the winners had left, identified only by the names and addresses on their tickets.  These addresses spanned an area well beyond Irvinestown, with winners from, amongst other places,  Enniskillen, Tempo and Lisbellaw.  All of which is testimony to the respect in which the family is held and to the willingness of so many to support them.

 

 

 

• The wider Hanna family with RVH LSG chair, Donald Cairnduff

 

It was a privilege for committee members Donald and Jennifer Cairnduff to be there and to talk about the work and objectives of the Group.  Our thanks and best wishes go to Andrew, to his wonderful family and to all who contributed to a memorable morning by their presence and their generosity.

When Lucy Duffy was looking for young people to perform in Another Night on Broadway as part of the Kinross Winter Festival, 6 year Caoimhe Clough was the youngest of the 14 successful singers and dancers who auditioned.

The performance, product of several months of intensive rehearsals, was a huge success. Caoimhe had plenty of stage time on the night, performing solo parts in songs from Mary Poppins, Matilda, Annie and The Sound of Music.

All profits went to charity, with cast members nominating the charity of their choice.  As a grand-daughter of Chris and Mairead Gruhn from Belfast, Caoimhe chose the RVH Liver Support Group as her charity, in memory of her ‘Papa’s’ successful liver transplant in June 2015.

Thank-you Caoimhe – your thoughtfulness has given us £240 towards our work.  We wish you many happy and successful years ahead as you take to the stage.

Caoimhe with ‘Papa’ Chris Gruhn and Lucy Duffy (Director of Another Night on Broadway)