Cardiac death organs now “good” for transplants

Awoken with a start at 6.55 AM by the phone. At that time of day it’s usually bad news, or somebody in Sweden not thinking. Today, it was BBC Surrey Radio. Phone voice: “Cim, can you do an interview in 20 minutes with Nick Wallis on his breakfast show?” Cim: “Of course”. Cim has of [...]

They think it’s all over

As well as the World Cup, National Transplant Week is over, and it’s the first one we haven’t been involved in since we started this Antarctic Odyssey thing. I’m disappointed, but not entirely surprised; things have become a little strange this year, with the Transplant Trust, and we’ve been wondering what we should do; what [...]

The Hjärta is delivered

The Hjärta has landed! Anders Jonasson of the Box Whisky, the Swedish malt whisky company hands over the bottle of Highland Park “Hjärta” to Cim in Östersund. This special bottle of whisky is a gift from Cim and me to Cim’s brother Jonas, to ceebrate the five years since Jonas donated a kidney to Cim. [...]

5 Years since my last dialysis – Thank you Jonas

Today Jerry and I are celebrating the 5th anniversary of my kidney transplant! Today exactly at this time I and my brother were under the hands of two separate transplant surgeons and their teams getting my brothers kidney out and then walking the corridor with his kidney in a bowl, to then transplant his kidney [...]

Celebrating Jonas: 5 Years since Cim’s Transplant

December 8 is a happy anniversary for Cim and me. Five years ago today, Cim received a kidney from her brother Jonas, in St George’s Hospital, Tooting, South London. To say that this event – this extraordinary act of brotherly generosity – transformed our lives is about as understated as you can get. I had [...]

I Hope You Know: Campaign Update From Sarah Springett of The Floe

Sarah Springett of the UK band The Floe has just posted an update and message about the “I hope you know campaign”. It starts: “Firstly, thank you all once again for your incredible support. Since the ‘I Hope You Know’ single campaign was launched on November 9th (a year to the day since I donated [...]

Do you want to do one good thing today? Go with The Floe

I bet you think I’m going to ask you to sign up for the organ donor register. Well, I’m not. “But just a minute” (I hear you say), “Aren’t you in the middle of a campaign to do that? You were on the radio last week…” Well yes, but today I’ve got something else to [...]

Our job: Find out Why People Would Receive an Organ but Won’t Sign Up

We were interviewed recently on BBC Surrey Radio as part of a new campaign to encourage people to sign up to the NHS organ donor register. The interview as posted unfortunately didn’t cover the whole interview, I think the last few minutes was cut off for some reason.Until we get the permanent download, I’d like [...]

Interview on BBC Surrey Radio

If you got stuck in traffic this morning in the Guildford area, I must apologise.  The extra chaos was no doubt caused because Cim and I were called in to be interviewed live from the studios of BBC Surrey Radio. Rush hour?  Maybe, but traffic is not as bad on interview-free days. We were on [...]