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Thursday, 31 December 2015

Nye 2015!!

New Year's Eve 2014! 

Take it back exactly a year. Little me was sat in a hospital bed on the CF unit at frimley park, on ivs, with oxygen on wishing I was out celebrating the new year in like others my age! I feel very lucky to be sat at home now a year on, oxygen free and breathing without a struggle, without even thinking of breathing! 

I spent yesterday reading over my blogs for the past year and it left me in tears to be honest, ESP the ones my mum wrote! 

It's amazing how quickly your life can change and what you have had to deal with for so many years becomes a distant memory! 

I also see many friends on my Facebook dealing with this time of the year struggle, colds and flus and many hit with nasty infections that leave them weaker, in hospital, fighting for their lives and I feel helpless and feel the need to want to be able to do more, but it's simply out of my control! Many waiting on the transplant list, hoping that magically life saving call comes any time now, so they can experience the feeling I have now, and can start the new year with a new life ahead of them! 

Since coming out of hospital I feel like a hyperactive child on a sugar rush! Being sad just doesn't enter my head! I'm embracing every minute of life and making sure that whenever it's my time to go, I know I will have gone out with a bang! ( not that I can ever see myself actually dying) ha but This last 24 hours I have been flooded with emotions. I literally sat here crying early just because I'm so happy to be here! 
This is ridiculously soppy and pathetic and I am back to my "man up" George mode now! 

I can't quite get my head around this year, it only feels like yesterday it was last Xmas and we had just celebrated my cousins wedding! 
I've had...
-Flare up of aspergillosis.
-swelling up due to the narrowing of the main vein to my heart. 
-Having port removed which was meant to be a 10 minute produce awake, ended up being two hours, being put to sleep and the port falling apart once being removed!
- Having a balloon thing to open up the vein which didn't last at all! 
-Spent my birthday in hospital! 
-To having a new port fitted and stent placed to keep the vein open.
-To the stent falling into my heart! 
-sent off to Harefield to remove the stent
-which they couldn't remove or get me off ventilator
-left ventilated in icu for 3 days
-wasn't allowed to leave Harefield
-left with a dodgy heart valve 
-clots around the stent
-shit lungs 
-3 false alarms 
-1 double lung transplant, open heart surgery to remove stent, plus port removed again!  
-blocked bowels
-complete muscle waste
-lost my voice

So apart from still having a dodgy heart valve that doesn't close properly, and swelling still happens, all is fixed and is amazing!

This year I'm setting myself goals! And I hope that this time next year I can look back and be proud that il have hopefully achieved most of them!! There not all crazy goals just ones that mean something to me! 

1. I want to help others! - I have been very overwhelmed and lucky by the support shown to me and my family this year and now that I am able to, I want to give back and help others in anyway I can, even if it's something small! 

2. I want to continue to raise awareness for the CF Trust and most importantly Organ Donation!! 

3. I want to challenge myself! I really want to do an abseil down Guildford cathedral for charity! Not sure how to go about this but I'm on a mission to make this possible, plus I'm shit scared of heights haha 

4. I want to go to go ape!! 
5. Do an indoor sky dive!! (Don't want to risk my life with a real one) haha
6. Gravity force has to be done!! 
7. Throw the best 1 year lung anniversary Ball in August and raise shit loads of money for charity! 
8. Challenge myself to Great Strides 65 on the 11th June in Surrey! 40 miles walk for the CF Trust!
9. Get a job and get mega fit and healthy!
10. And spend quality time with lee and Mason and travel around England and visit places I've never even heard of! 

These are just a few, but I'm sure I will get up to more mischief as the year goes on! 

This year has been the worse year of my life, but on the flip side the absolutely amazing year! I never thought it was possible to be able to breathe like this! I was far too young to remember what "healthy" lungs felt like, well Infact I've never had healthy lungs so this is a whole new experience and one I'm going to absolutely smash at! 

I'm so grateful to my incredible lee, mum, dad, sisters, aunties, uncles, cousins, and in laws who never gave up on me this year! To my friends who went out of there way to help and support me, even when I wasn't aware of what was going on! And 1 even flew back from the other side of the world to be near!! 

The the generosity of total strangers offering help and support!! To everyone who donated to my just giving page which I only intended to make £1000 at the start and is now over £13,000!!!! Plus more to add from charity night I held..(will put that on here in a bit) 

I've met some incredible people throughout this journey, I have the best team at Harefield and the best surgeon who continues to help! 

My Frimley lot who I miss not seeing all the time now, took me under their wing and I can honestly say without ALL of them I wouldn't have got this far!

So that's all the soppy stuff done, now for my catch bits!! 

So catch up of my December!! So we had the fantastic charity night screening of spectre at pinewood studios!! It's was such a good turn and out and raised over £2000 for the CF Trust which I'm pleased with! 




Also visited my family up north for a little Xmas party! Which was lovely, my sister and I got a little too drunk!! But we had fun bonding! Haha
And my cousins little one Amelie made us all have stick on tattoos! 
I wasn't drunk enough to let her give me one on my forehead! Haha 

I've celebrated my friends birthday! 
Love a cocktail!! 
My favs!! The birthday girl!!
My lover!! 

Had a lovely Xmas afternoon tea at oaklands park hotel in weybridge with my girlees! 


Got my little fur baby Mason the cutest Xmas outfits -he's not so keen! 


I ACTUALLY put the tree up and all the decorations this year! Whilst blasting out Xmas songs and dancing around the room like a nuttah winding lee up! 


And terrosising the dog! 
Helped decorate and make Tony's room all xmassy at Harefield for him and Sophie! 

Wasn't feeling 100% just before Xmas and so had a little visit to Harefield for bloods to check all was ok, cmv levels were up a bit so started back on valganciclovir every other day! Thought whilst I was there I would get a selfie with the famous mr grumpy gorilla of Harefield! Looking all xmassy! 

Had a lovely Xmas with the families! Didn't get pics of us all together like last year, it was packed in the pub! 
Just a few before we left! 
Me and beau with our matching Xmas jumpers! 
Dad escaped without any pics! Haha
He hates getting photographed! 

So Boxing Day lee and I decided to take mason down to west wittering for a nice walk along the beach! It was the perfect weather for it and actually quite warm for Xmas! 
Mason experienced his first swimming lesson, the stupid dog was running against another dog and misjudged the "puddle" as the tide was coming in and ran straight into the water, tumbled and then learnt how to swim very quickly! 
Was a very funny moment and everyone was laughing bless him! I did panic thinking I would have to go in and safe him as he's never swam before but the boy did well!! Proud mummy moment! 

 
The we finished the day with a nice tgi Fridays, which I have been wanting since I had my transplant! Can't believe it's taken me over 4 months to go!

Oh and I crashed my car! Well actually I didn't, a motorbike crashed into me as I was pulling out of a garage! He was over taking traffic and was going way to fast! Scarest moment of my life! I thought he was dead!! I've never experienced shock like that before!! I'm always so aware of bikes and always let them go and overtake me if there's space, my dad had a bike for years and I use to regularly ride on the back with him! But this guy came out of nowhere and should have checked! Now I don't have my car as its getting fixed and had to spend out! It's bollocks ESP when it's not your fault! Thankfully he walked away in injured which is most inportant thing no matter what the situation! But he didn't talk to me! Haha

So  as much as I moaned about my Kia Sportage I actually miss it a lot at the moment!!

I got very spoilt for Xmas sponsored by Tiffany and Pandora! But one of my fav pressy has got to me my Fitbit! You can track how many steps you do a day, your activity, your sleep, your calories and how much you burn etc! It's so good and gives u a push if your having a lazy day! 

So I end this year on a high and hope that 2016 continues as good as this one has ended! 

Mucho loveo!!
And happy new year! 
XXXX 



Friday, 4 December 2015

Organ donation Xmas stands!

Been a right little busy bee these last couple of weeks! I done my first, second and third organ donation stands and I loved it!! It was very pink and girly and I bugged the hell out of people haha some appreciated it some didn't and a lot of people were very proud to tell me that they had already signed which is always the best thing to hear!!

So the first stand was done on the 27th November in my home town of Cobham. They had a lovely parade and turned the Xmas lights on! It was soooooo bloody windy though!! Literally poor mum had to sit there with a broom the whole time to hold the gazebo up! And every strong bit of wind, each one of us would run to hold down the stand!! Haha 


My two gorgeous besties tor and Gemma also came down to support me and got very involved! My little stars encouraging people to sign up, sticking stickers on them who have or hadn't joined all about getting people talking about it!! Oh and everyone loves a free pen!!



Gemma and me X
Tor and me X
Mum and me X

Was so much fun and a rewarding evening! 

The next day myself and my fav girl who's also had a double lung transplant at Harefield 9 months ago, Veronica we done a stand in knaphill, Woking together!!


We spent the majority of the time being obsessed with dogs whilst her little niece Mia did all the hard work handing out sign up forms! She was great and no1 says no to kids...how can you! She had to go after an hour, so Veronica and I had to step up our game to keep up with mias hard work!! 
So we pulled the old heart strings and gave the old twinkle in our eyes and told people how we have had double lung transplants and how it's saved our life's! ;) made a lady cry her eyes out bless her but she said they were happy tears!




Mia the star of the show! 

We were also told by a little old lady that she knew we had both had transplant because we had hamster cheeks! Haha but Veronica's were smaller than mine! She was so sweet and innocent we couldn't help but laugh and she wasn't wrong! She told us about her late husband had received a kidney transplant many many years ago! And she was so happy to see us looking so well! 
This is what is lovely about doing the stands, you hear so many amazing stories from people! And it's lovely to see there reactions when you tell them about our stories, you can generally see how pleased people are for us and if they aren't already on the register 9/10 it makes them want to join! 

So then we tried to suck in our hamster cheeks!! Lol 
I got told off by Fred, alfonzo and Veronica for eating "street food" but techniqualy it wasn't street food, it was from there restaurant up the road! Haha it was yummy though! Hahaha 

Me and Fred! Veronica's partner! 
Was also surprised when my friends came to show there support too! I really am lucky to have such great people around me!! 
 Jo and Dane :) xx

Was a really good day and again everyone loves a free pen, and stickers and most importantly it got a few signed up and a lot of people talking about it and considering it! 

I have to add this photo because it cracks me up, so I'm not sure if they are signed up for organ donation, they didn't speak English, but they saw us have a photo with it and after she came over and picked up the sign and stood there posing whilst her friend took the photo! I don't even know if she knows what it was for! Hehehe 


One thing I did notice was a lot of men get very funny about it, they were the ones to run away quickly or avoid Eye contact! 

So my last stand was in Gerrads Cross for there Xmas fair thingy! 

Was SOOOOO windy again we gave up with the gazebo! Our bits were flying everywhere! I think we spent the first half of the night keeping our hands on the tablet to make sure nothing blew away! 
We got the police involved which was good, nice to see them supporting us, although myself and holly kinda jumped on them, so they didn't get much choice in the matter! Hahaa 

Old snow man and reindeer got involved too 
I don't really think they knew what they were holding up! 
So after it got quiet around there, we decided to move over to tescos, it was hilarious moving from one place to another. We decided to keep eveything up, so mum and Pam popped all the bits in a trolley that needed to go in like the boxes and cases and holly and I carried the table! We were a portable organ donation stand then! With our fairy lights flashing away! Did make us chuckle!
We finally got outside tesco and it was under shelter and was hidden from the wind which was great!
It meant I could out my big stand up as before I hadn't been able too because it would just blow done in the wind! 
We were also next to a rock choir! So lots of people around and we had a right little sing along and dance too! After that calmed down, myself holly and cousin mark decided to try give out some leaflets/ forms up thru the town, we gave out a few and left some in shops and enjoyed some nice mulled wine, canopys and hotdogs freshly cooked from the shop! Mmmm not a bad night for us! Haha also I'm dog obsessed and saw some beautiful pups!! 

All in all successful stands and like I said it felt rewarding!! 

Here are some of the people I shared in my stands, they are fellow transplant recipients :) 
Thanks to everyone that helped and was part of it! And for lee and my family and friends for helping me! Your all stars, and couldn't have done it without you all! 




























Now for the next big event in my life!! 
We are holding a charity night screening of the bond film Spectre!! For people who follow my blog you may have seen that my husband works for the studios and builds the sets. He worked on the James Bond film and got tickets for the or wit which we were both so excited to see!! However to couldn't make it and was totally gutted because I had to stay in at Harefield due to low white blood count and wasn't aloud to mix in busy, crowed areas and was in isolation for my own sake! 
Anyways so a lovely lady called Sarah down who works at pinewood studios for genuine dinning has organised the whole night, private screening of the film, and raffle for after! Free prosecco on arrival! All money raised goes to the CF TRUST! I'm so so lucky and have been truely spoilt and cannot wait for Monday! Tickets are £15 for the night which we still have a few left! Also raffle tickets are sold on my blog for £2 each! 
We have been very lucky to be donated some amazing prizes! I will post all after the night on the 7th December! And hopefully we raise a good amount for the CF Trust!!  

Here's the links! For the event which is held at pinewood studios in Iver starts at 6pm but the screening for the film starts at 7pm https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/spectre-screening-raffle-tickets-19779180060?aff=eivtefrnd%3Futm_source%3Deb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=evitefrnd&utm_term=eventimage
If you would like to buy raffle tickets please use the web/desktop version of my blog 
All my goes to cf trust! 
Here is a few of the amazing prizes, more to be added!! 

Right mucho loveo to all! Let's hope the night is successful!! 
Just going to leave you with this photo of my mason because I love it and it always makes me smile haha