This photo shows me with Rachael at the Wythenshawe New Start Charity Christmas lunch in December 2009. Rachael had been on the transplant list for about month at this stage. Considering her dependency on oxygen and extreme tiredness she was feeling very positive. By February, when a group of us went out for lunch, Rachael had become really exhausted and frail. She desperately needed a double lung transplant. But, as with so many patients, the hands of her care team were tied. Without enough families willing to say ‘yes’ to donation lifesaving transplant operations cannot take place. Rachael had to wait and hope.

Rachael struggled through most of her teenage and early adult years with a debilitating lung condition called interstitial lung disease. Initially transplant surgeons did not believe that Rachael would benefit from a double lung transplant. Her family raised funds for her to receive treatment in America.

In 2008 Rachael had become so ill she was taken to the Willow Wood Hospice in Ashton-under-Lyne to be looked after. It was feared that Rachael would die. Sheer determination and courage kept her battling for life. Surgeons University Hospital South Manchester reviewed their original decision and Rachael was listed for a transplant in November 2009.

Everyone has hopes and dreams from themselves, their friends and their loved ones. The opportunity to have a transplant gave that hope to Rachael and her family. For years her life had been organised around oxygen support and medication. The transplant offered the chance of some normality.

Rachael received her double lung transplant On March 9th/10th 2010. After so many years of illness she made an amazing recovery from being a fragile and vulnerable person to being someone who could walk and breathe on her own. This is the inspirational transformation that transplants can bring to the lives of so many people. Rachael and her family were delighted.

For a number of months Rachael was able to recover at her home in Dukinfield, but complications led to more and more critical stays in the Transplant ward at Wythenshawe. Sadly Rachael died on October 26th 2011 at Wythenshawe Hospital, aged just twenty -three.

Rachael’s parents, Lynette and Phil, said of her:

“Rachael fought to hold on to life right up until the very end and we are truly devastated that she has gone. She was a very special person and a daughter to be proud of. She will leave a great big hole in our lives but we hope, in time, the pain will ease and we will be able to focus on the work she did to make thousands of people sign up to be organ donors. She might have been only a young woman, but we believe her legacy will live on in the many more people who will benefit from transplant surgery as a result of her efforts.”

Through her blog and Facebook site Rachael encouraged over 20,000 people to sign up to the Organ Donor Register. Rachael’s legacy will live on through this remarkable response to her courageous fight for life. It is so sad that her second chance of life was so brief, but her family will treasure the additional 18 months that her donor was able to help her achieve.

Please visit Rachael’s blog at: [Web link to Rachael’s blog]

You can see Rachael promoting organ donation at the following website: [YouTube link to one of Rachael's many TV promotions for organ donation]

TRANSPLANTS CAN BRING HOPE IF THEY HAPPEN EARLY ENOUGH.