Eleventh day of Christmas.  Charlotte said something so simple and poignant in her contribution to the playlist yesterday, with her choice of Hold on we’re going home, by Drake.  “I used to listen to it in hospital and it made me feel so lucky that I was going to get better and go home, as I knew not everyone would.”

It’s a reality in the transplant world, a reason why renewed life and all the varied pieces that make up its mosaic are even more likely to be held closer and treasured.

NHS Blood and Transplant figures for the period April 2023-24 record 4,570 transplants.  3,712 were transplants from 1,510 deceased donors.  

In the same period, over 415 people died while waiting on the transplant list.

When a person’s decision to be an organ donor is known, 9 out of 10 families will say yes to donation.  If they are unaware of their loved one’s decision on organ donation that consent falls to about 6 out of 10 families.

That’s some of the ‘why’ of Live Loudly Donate Proudly.  To encourage conversations, soon, now, rather than ‘tomorrow’, potentially reducing the waiting list, giving someone else a better chance of a transplant, and the best opportunity they can have to go home.

Behind those statistics are people: each donor, each person on the waiting list who didn’t get to go home, loved and honoured by someone.

And not all transplants are free from complications.  Sometimes, as a friend said recently, however strong you are, none of us is stronger than the universe.  Some of our transplant recipients live lives that are all too short, however brightly they shine.  Alongside those donors whose lives have saved others, the transplant family carries many other names that are equally treasured.  Those with whom we have laughed, cried, danced and ached in hope.  Those who didn’t come home.

In September 2018, Lucia’s blog was a moving tribute to her dear friend, Luke Biggs.  Today’s playlist contribution is from Luke’s family, ‘the Biggsies’.  With their characteristic humour, fun, and honesty.

Over to you, Biggsies…

“Mariah Carey’s, gastro related Christmas song, All I want for Christmas is poo – sorry – you. Particularly when in hospital over several different Christmases after a gastro related procedure or two. ‘We’re waiting for bowel movement as a sign of success.’ Hence all we want for Christmas is poo.

Wiz Khalifa, See you again, is from Fast and Furious 7. A franchise of films Luke really enjoyed, but 7 was the last one of the set Luke saw. He went into hospital just one month after seeing it in the May of 2015 to never come home. Certainly now a tear jerker for Luke.

Fat Boy Slim, Right here right now, relating to you gotta just get on with it, no one else will do it for you, and Elvis, The wonder of you were both songs The Arsenal would come out to before football matches which Luke enjoyed being at. They were also music played at Luke’s funeral. He entered the church to Right here, right now, receiving a standing ovation. Not something you’d expect to see in a church. The wonder of you was the piece of music he left the church to, but also, just how the lyrics relate to our children and how amazing they are, all of them, always.

One last one. Happiness, by Kasabian, one of Luke’s favourite groups from his brother Adam’s playlist he chose for Luke to listen to as we comforted him in his last hours in this world.”

The Biggsies

Tenth day of Christmas, and today’s songs come from Charlotte. 

How these friends managed to narrow their songs down to a few contributions for these blogs, even with the overlapping choices that underline their shared experiences so well, is hard to imagine.  Has to be a tough job.  When they are all together at the Transplant Games, or wherever, music and dancing are never far away.  Nor is laughter.  They have enough in common already in their stories of health and hospitals and medications and procedures, any opportunity to share the joy of being together is a gift to be relished.  It’s their eloquent tribute to their donors and donor families, to their own families, their friends, and to the gift of life.  No surprise then that some of the songs are repeated.  And for some, when there’s an opportunity to sit together in the lap of a koala bear, it just has to be taken…(see below!).

Thank you, Charlotte, for these songs, and the places they take you…

“My Love, by Westlife – I love Westlife and we used to listen to this song when I was in hospital and was apart from my family, reminding us we would all be back together one day.

You’ll never walk alone and We are the champions are both Transplant Games favourites, probably been given by everyone! (So true, Charlotte!  More of this to come on day 12…)  They bring us together and remind us we have all been through our own journeys that people in the ‘outside world’ can’t always relate to.

Superheroes, by The Script and The Climb by Miley Cyrus.  These two just make you think about how far you’ve come and everything you’ve been through to get there.

Hold on we’re going home, by Drake.  This one might be a bit of a random one, but I used to listen to it in hospital and it made me feel so lucky that I was going to get better and go home, as I knew not everyone would.”

Charlotte (left) with Lucia

There’s no shortage of images in the last song for today, contributed by Jane, the mum of a transplant recipient.  Like Keeleigh, Jane’s son, James, is part of that whirling, dancing, caring group of friends from the Transplant Games, and no stranger to climbing the medal winner podiums.  His climbing also includes many a high peak, including Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, and Snowdon all within 22hrs 39 minutes.  Just as courageously James shared his transplant story in a blog for Live Loudly Donate Proudly in September 2018.

We often talk of the transplant journey and its hospital adventures and misadventures, as a rollercoaster.  Highs and lows, out of our immediate control, taking us where it goes, like it or not.  Sometimes, some of us begin to dread the mention of the word, with all its connotations.  An attentive listening to Jane’s chosen song, Windmills of your mind, sung by All Angels, offers an echo of the dizzying experience and mental entanglement for those intimately involved in the world of transplants.  Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon…a clock whose hands are sweeping…

Jane

Eighth day of Christmas.  Two guests with musical contributions today, Zoe and Alicia.

Our first is Zoe, a friend who seems to muster remarkable reserves of energy to train for competitive table tennis, and win an impressive medal and trophy count while also managing a rigorous renal dialysis regime.  That takes its toll, and more than the medals might suggest.  Zoe helps to raise awareness about chronic kidney disease, and organ donation, through her Instagram and Facebook platforms, “Keeping it renal”.  Have a look – but listen to Zoe’s and Alicia’s contributions before you leave us!

“The first song that comes to mind is The Climb, by Miley Cyrus. It talks about moving forward. ‘There’s always gonna be another mountain, I’m always gonna wanna make it move, always gonna be an uphill battle, sometimes I’m gonna have to lose, ain’t about how fast I get there, ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side…it’s the climb.’

The second song for me is one I connect with my mum donating me my first (kidney) transplant. You make it real, by James Morrison. ‘Everybody’s talking in words I don’t understand, you got to be the only one who knows just who I am. You’re shining in the distance, I hope I can make it through, ’cause the only place that I want to be…is right back home with you.”