Another coffee morning, this time in Coleraine. More of the same to come……
RVHLSG Charity Founder visits St Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin
St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin celebrated its Liver Transplant 30th Anniversary with a Patient Education Day in O’Reilly Hall, UCD, Belfield, Dublin on October 14th . There were a number of practical talks on living with a liver transplant with recent updates in the field of transplantation in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the National Liver Transplant Programme. The day started with an introduction given by Mr Justin Geoghegan, Consultant Transplant Surgeon with further insights into the last thirty years of transplantation by Prof Oscar Traynor and Prof Aiden McCormick.
Kay Duffy, OBE, and founder of the Liver Support Group was invited down to the event to give an insight in to the support network provided by the Group within Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland does not have a similar network and therefore patients with any type of liver condition cannot avail of the wide number of services provided to patients in NI.
Kay Duffy, Founder, Arthur Goan, Vice Chairman, Dr Sharon Millen, Head of Research and Rachel Quinney Mee, Child & Adolescent Patient Carer representing the RVH Liver Support Group attended.
Liver Support Group now offers a “quiet place” amidst a busy ward…..
We, the RVH Liver Support Group, are proud to let you know that we have kitted out the glasshouse, as it was known, in Ward 6D of the RVH Regional Liver Unit. This room is now affectionately known as “The Quiet Room” and has been refurbished and fitted out by the Charity with a new reclining sofa and chair. These items will recline as shown in the picture and also provide USB charging connectivity. As well as this we have provided a Nespresso coffee machine and microwave oven. Tableware, cutlery and associated accessories are also provided. The Charity will keep the room clean and stocked with coffee pods, teabags and sugar on an ongoing basis.
The Quiet Room is for the sole use of our patients whilst in Ward 6D and their families when visiting, for private conversations between medical staff and patients/families and a place of repose for the medical team within the Ward when needed . It is hoped that everyone will treat the room with the respect and dignity that it deserves.
Masonic Provincial Priories Golfing Society raises £2500.00 for RVHLSG
On Friday , Sept 29th 2023 the Masonic Provincial Priories Golfing Society Competition presented a cheque to Jim Kilpatrick, Chairman of the RVH Liver Support Group after a successful golf tournament at Killymoon Golf Club. Thank you all for a fantastic amount raised of £2,500.
Members Lunch Sept 2023
The RVH Liver Support Group hosted their annual Member’s lunch at the Dunsilly Hotel Antrim on Sunday September 10th 2023. There were over 80 members having a great lunch and chat with many friends. A few pictures opposite capture the occasion on what was a beautiful day in so many ways.
Our First Coffee Morning
Jim, Patricia and Arthur were in attendance at our very first coffee morning on August 7th in Cafe Cure beside Bangor Town Hall. The first event was very well attended with 25 patients and family members joining the Liver Support Group. Everyone agreed that is was a very beneficial way to meet others who were on the same journey. The RVH Liver Support Group will be planning more of these events soon right across N Ireland. Please keep an eye on our social media channels for future planned coffee events.
We are over at the British Transplant Games
RVH Liver Support Group members have joined the British Transplant Games in Coventry this weekend. L-R is Dylan Caughey, Rachel Chambers, Sharon Millen (Committee Member) and Jim Kilpatrick (Chairman). We wish them all every success in the games.
NIAOC Run to Enniskillen for the RVH Liver Support Group
On behalf of everyone in the RVH Liver Support Group team I (Arthur) would like to thank both the NIAOC admin team for their great work in putting together a fantastic event and all of the work involved in organising the raffle which was held on the day at Castlecoole and all the members of the Audi Owners Club who attended. There were some great car shots at the front of the building (thank you Shootfactory-NI) at Castlecoole and at Navar viewpoint which we went to afterwards; no doubt a few good memories. I’ve tried to capture as much of our convoy, and as many memories, in the attached video compilation; I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.
Second, a big word of thanks to all those who donated so many worthy prizes for the raffle for, without your support, it would not have been possible. And to all of you who purchased those raffle tickets or made direct contributions through my JustGiving page 
.
.The event raised the fantastic amount of £574.00 through JustGiving page and the raffle. When Gift Aid is added from the JustGiving page (income tax at the lower threshold) the total amount is £690.00. Again, thank you so much for this and be assured that every penny of this will be spent on the wellbeing of our many liver patients, providing financial assistance during transplant events, funding for medical equipment at the Regional Liver Unit in RVH or continued hepatology research within the medical team at RVH. I will leave the page live until the end of July in the case of perhaps other NIAOC members who weren’t able to join us on the day who may wish to lend support to our charity which is celebrating 25 years this year helping liver patients.
If you would like to find out a little more about what we do please have a look here
Until the next time, look after yourselves and each other 
If you would like to see a high res version of the video clip (and download it) I have shared it on my OneDrive account here :-
Councillor Mark Cooper BEM lends Mayoral support to three charities.
Councillor Mark Cooper, Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, announced that, during his Mayoral year, he will be lending his support to three incredible charities, Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice , RVH Liver Support Group and Action Deaf Youth
Each one is very close to his heart as he has been a long-time supporter of the Hospice and is a passionate advocate for the Deaf community. However, he has been particularly grateful to the RVH Liver Support Group for their support to his family, as his Mum is currently on the transplant waiting list. All three of these charities provide a vital service and he looks forward to raising awareness of the fantastic work they do, as well as raising much needed funds throughout the year.
There will be many opportunities to donate throughout the year and he would ask everyone to give what you can to support these fantastic causes.
For more information or to donate, please visit antrimandnewtownabbey.gov.uk/mayorscharities
The RVH Liver Support Group would like to thank the Mayor for his support during this year and we wish his Mum well.
NI Audi Owners Club teams up with the RVH Liver Support Group.
Arthur is the vice chairman of the RVH Liver Support Group, an avid Audi petrolhead and an active member of the NIAOC. Recently, he was honoured to be involved with the putting together of the NI Audi Owners Club yearly big run which is going to Enniskillen this year. The Club was founded by Marc and Nicky Edgar several years ago and they are among its many admins. And this is because it now has over 1400 members throughout NI who are very active helping one another on their FB page.
This years big Audi run will be taking place on this incoming Saturday, July 8th starting off from Sprucefield car park at around 08:30 hrs and heading to Edfield cafe in Fivemiletown for breakfast after which the convoy will drive to Castlecoole, a National Trust property in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh and will remain there for several hours. Later in the day the convoy will then head to the beautiful Navar viewpoint where one can see the Belleek shore road, the River Erne and indeed Bundoran and the Atlantic Ocean!!
The year NIAOC offered to help raise awareness of our charity by including us on their event. A big shout out goes to Nicky, Marc and Andy for putting so much effort into the organising of the Audi run and the raffle on the day. And the RVH Liver Support Group would like to thank them most sincerely for taking the time out to make this run a great success. We are all aware of how time consuming it is to organise and set up events such as this.
If you happen to be in Enniskillen on July 8th please feel free to call in to see the cars at Castlecoole between 12:30 pm and 3:00 pm.
A Just Giving page has also been set up for any Audi members who cannot to attend but may wish to contribute to the Liver Support Group. The link to the page is below and there is a little story there detailing what the charity does for the community.