Twenty Years ♥️
Twenty years, impossible to imagine dreamed of years , yearned for, cried over , terrifying years, normal times, sad times but always a life that was lived. Twenty years, twenty gifted years, the life line thrown to Eloise when Zara couldn’t live here any longer. Hope, organ donation gave me that. Organ donation helped Rebecca cope with the devastating loss of her precious daughter Zara. It has helped her over the years knowing Zara’s heart beats on.
Organ donation, never a cure but when you’re faced with death and offered a second chance at life you grasp it firmly and go with it. Life isn’t the same, for some part it’s better as every day has more meaning than it did before, time becomes precious. Dreams aren’t for chasing they’re for planning. Yet a level of anxiety is always there, heightened alert and fear for the future, you lose your naivety.
Some of you have been here right from the start of Eloise’s transplant story. You looked after her and me in Bristol Childrens Hospital in PICU when my whole world was broken or the Freeman. Mandy I’ve never forgotten seeing your lovely smiley face when we returned from Great Ormond Street and Eloise was admitted to BCH with rejection. So many people couldn’t face me , unsure what to say but you came in and got Eloise to have her ecg without being upset. You and Stella remained our favourite cardiac techs , a highlight of outpatient appointments.
Friendships old and friendships new , you can’t do transplantation without the right army with you, it’s gruelling mentally . A real roller coaster I can happily handle but the post transplant roller coaster is a trickier beast and it’s best we all scream together. We laugh, we cry and hopefully get another day to laugh some more. Recently some transplant legends have died and I bloody miss them, my inspiration and my hope and my support. Eloise is probably one of those legends to the families of young transplanted children, she’s their hope. Thank you friends, thank you colleagues , thank you NHS, thank you to those who set up the organ donor register, thank you organ donors, thank you Zara and thank you Eloise for being a complete and utter star ⭐️ Twenty extra years with you ♥️ From 21 months to 21 years. Through every stage of the education system and beyond, your story continues………..
