So my diary is looking pretty chocker in the next coming months! Thought I would keep you in the loop so that you might understand if I neglect my blog!

Today - It is my brother and Sister in-law's 2nd wedding anniversary! I can't believe how quick those past two years have gone. I remember being worried if I would be well enough on their wedding day to enjoy being a bridesmaid (thankfully I was)! Again can't say too much about pressies incase they read, but I am sure they will like )

Wednesday 24th June - Blood tests at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.

Friday 26th June - In the morning I am off to a childrens party and then in the evening TAKE THAT! wooo! Emily is coming up for the night (I bought her the ticket as a thank you for helping me with the campaign and a birthday present rolled into one)! We are going with my Sis in-law and her friend! I can't wait!

Monday 29th June - Clinic at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. (There are usually delays so this will be a few hours long!)

Thursday 2nd July - My Gift of Life talk with Sally at West Houghton High school in Bolton, in front of 40 year 12 students.

Saturday 4th July - I am off to Birmingham for the Donor Family Network Gathering.

Sunday 5th July - again in Birmingham, I will be attending (and doing a reading at) the Donor Memorial Service.

Tuesday 7th July, Wednesday 8th July, Thursday 9th July - LLTGL talk with fellow advocate Carol Beckett at Turton High School infront of 200 students each day!

Saturday 11th July - My first proper post transplant holiday - a week in Devon, I am so excited! It will be me, my Mum, Dad, Andrew (my Bro), Fiona and Abigail! I would never have thought I would be able to go to Devon, its a 6 hour drive from my house! I used to get travel sick if I spent more than an hour in the car!

Satuday 25th July - I am off down to London, this will be more of a social visit to meet up with Emily and other people that helped out on Donor Day, there wasn't much chance for me to chat to them much so this will be a great opportunity to exchange gossip and maybe throw some campaign ideas around too?!

Saturday 15th August - I am really loooking forward to meeting up with Sarah Milne, from the Gifts of Life photography project. She is going to be photgraphing me in Manchester in the morning and then Team Ethan in Manchester in the afternoon. If you haven't checked out her blog, go do so now: here!

Friday 21st August - Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary!

Saturday 22nd/23rd August - I will be off down to London again for the LLTGL advocate away days! This will be my first opportunity to meet some of my fellow advocates, talk, share our ideas and stories etc.

Monday 24th August - this is the universities assessment week and at some point I will have to do a piece of work that I missed whilst I was in hospital recovering after my transplant! It is a presentation about Leadership in Early Years Settings (have not really looked at it yet, so must do that pretty soon!)

I can't believe it... we will then be onto September and celebrating Abigail's 1st Birthday!

Lots and Lots of great stuff to look forward to, remembering that amongst all that my folks look after Abigail every Monday and Thursday (which I am loving!), I will have to keep pushing the campaign forward, look for a job at some point, but also remember to have some me time to relax, read trashy magazines and watch cheesy soaps!

Time is absolutely flying by! I don't know where it disappears to and I certainly don't know how I had time to fit in dialysis before!

I can't pin point all the things I've done recently, spent time with friends and family being the main thing that sticks out. It's just so lovely to not have to watch the clock on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening, last summer I missed out on sitting out in the garden on the light nights something which I am looking forward to this year!

I love looking back on old blogs to see what I was up to this time last year... and if your wondering... I was kind of stressed as I was on work placement, having to juggle that and dialysis and had to have an operation on my arm! I had an anyerism in my fistula and so I it was necessary for me to have a fistulaplasty! A balloon inserted to enlarge the vein! A very painful but quick procedure.

If your wondering... I still have my fistula, it is still a bit lumpy and it certainly continues to buzz! Fistulas aren't normally removed after transplant as it was completed during a surgical procedure and of course I may need to use it in the future as I am more than likely going to need dialysis again in the future.

Anyway sorry to take you back there (trip down memory lane), its just interesting to see the contrast from my life back then to my life now!

Today I spent the day with my neice and we went to a play barn called crackpots! It was great and Abigail had such fun and was laughing away! This evening I am spending time planning some talks I am doing in July I have 4 planned, 1 for Battlefront and 3 from Live Life Then Give Life. The Battlefront one I will be doing with my good friend Sally, I think it will be interesting for her to talk about what she has learnt from me about Organ donation and Transplantation but also how seeing me go through dialysis and a transplant affected her and her view of how I coped etc. This will be done at a school in Bolton in front of 40 year 12 students. The 3 for LLTGL are all at the same school on consecutive days! This will be in front 200 students each day (3 different year groups) year 8,9 and 10 I think! I will be doing these with a fellow LLTGL advocate Carol Beckett, who you can read more about here.

It will be interesting to see how the different talks go and how they differ as I am doing them with different people (different ages) in front of students from different year groups! Will let you know how my plans come together! I'm really nervous about presenting but it will be good practice for me, and I know that if I want to continue campaigning then it is something I will have to get used to and have to be more confident at!

I have lots of things to look forward to over the next couple of months.... will fill you in next time!

I always think the best way to reach people and encourage them to think about organ donation is sharing personal stories. These often have the most impact and maybe prompt people to be proactive and actually sign the register. This is why I am sharing this and why the author of this piece of writing wants me to share this too! I only know Rhia Murray through Facebook and my campaign, but she is one very brave and inspirational 17 year old and I think her story portrays this. This was only written yesterday...

"I have Cystic Fibrosis. Many people don't know what this is; but the people who do, will understand what a cruel illness it really is. It is a life-threatening lung condition, which not only affects the lungs, but also the digestive system which results in lots of different medication giving us a very short life expectancy of 31 years.

I however, would not of even made it to my 17th birthday, if it wasn't for the kind genorosity of my donor, who I thank from the bottom of my heart. All my life, up until then I had been suffering. Struggling. Desperate to want to be able to know and feel like what it is like to breathe like a 'normal' person. Just to be able to take a big deep breath in to fill the whole of my lungs!

2007 was when things really started to go downhill - very fast. By 2008; I was on 24hr oxygen and needing a wheelchair to get around. It was an effort to even brush my teeth as I would be literally gasping for air.

Getting up the stairs would be a mission - I would take one step up and have to wait a few minutes before taking another. All in all - it would take around 15 minutes to reach the top, and once there I would then have to sit at the top to catch my breath. It was hell. Pure hell, then the coughing up sputum started...
Me being a right girly girl, I love to wear nice clothes, do my hair and make-up, but I couldn't physically do that, I didn't have the energy and to be honest, I didn't even care what I looked like at that point.]

I had planned my own funeral. My life was coming to an end, and I knew it. I made sure I told the people who mean the most to me, that I loved them at every possible chance I could, even though it left me breathless, incase that would be the very last time I did. I dreaded going to sleep at every afternoon nap I had and every night, incase I never woke up. I wasn't ready to die. I was scared.
I was only 16 years old and I had my whole life ahead of me, I had dreams and hopes for the future.

Why me?

July 2008, I was put on the active list for a double-lung transplant. I truely believed I wouldn't get it, but I must have someone up there looking over me, because on 28 August 2008 - I got the call! My life was finally going to change! I would finally have the chance to know what its like to breathe normally.

Three weeks later I was discharged from hospital, still feeling slightly shakey in my legs as I hadn't used them for so long! My face was very chubby due to the anti-rejection tablets called prednisolone I had to take - I hated looking like that!

The main thing was I could BREATHE! It felt AMAZING!

Now, nearly a year on, my life is finally getting back on track. I am starting as a trainee hairdresser as from September - which I have always wanted to do - but couldn't for obvious reasons. I can actually run, dance and talk an actual sentence without it leaving me feeling exhausted! I am starting my driving lessons very soon - which I cannot wait for! I'm even planning the biggest party for my 18th - even though it's next year!

I'm starting to love my life now. One thing I've learnt in life, is NEVER take life for granted and live life to the full.

You never know when it will all end."

So if that doesn't prompt you to sign the register or talk about your wishes with your family then I don't know what will. Transplants really do save lives, this young lady is proof! They transform them too and I am certainly evidence for that! I am reall