Helen is back on her feet after transplant and wants more organ donors to sign up

Oct 26 2011 by Lynn Jolly, Paisley Daily Express

A LIVER transplant survivor yesterday gave her support to a new campaign to encourage more people to sign up as organ donors.

Helen Lang, 51, from Johnstone, was diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and left stunned when doctors said her liver had essentially “packed up” and her only chance of survival was a transplant.

Her life was saved by getting a liver transplant from an anonymous donor and her hard-hitting message to Paisley Daily Express readers is: “If you would be willing to take a transplant, you should be willing to donate.”

The campaign to attract more people for the Organ Donor Register was launched at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, where Helen was joined by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon.

This is the hospital where retail worker Helen had her life-saving transplant in June.

Looking back to her diagnosis, she said: “It was very surreal. I just couldn’t believe this was happening to me.

“I’d known there was something wrong for a while. I was so lethargic, had lost weight and muscle rapidly and was finding it difficult to get around.

“Also, I normally love my food but I just didn’t have any appetite.”

Helen went to see her GP, who referred her to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, where a number of tests were carried out.

However, at Easter this year, her condition worsened and doctors made the decision to transfer her to the Scottish Liver Transplant Unit (SLTU) in Edinburgh.

Helen was then diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and placed on the transplant list.

“My world was turned upside down,” she said. “I just thought to myself ‘not me’.

“The staff at the SLTU were fantastic. They explained it all in laymen’s terms to me and my family and helped us understand exactly what was happening but it’s still very hard to take it all in at the time.”

After three weeks in hospital, Helen was allowed to go home ... but had to wait on the call that could change her life.

She knew it could be a long wait – time that her body simply didn’t have.

Helen explained: “I knew I could wait months, if not longer, as there are not enough organs for everyone who needs them and you need to wait on a suitable match.

“The uncertainties put a tremendous strain on the whole family, as well as close friends. It was such a difficult time.”

Thankfully, Helen got the call just three weeks later to tell her a donor liver had become available.

She said: “I know how lucky I was. Three weeks is very quick. Most people wait months, even years. It was June 15 this year and I’ll always remember that date.

“I was very ill at that point. It was very difficult for my family as they were the ones having to sit and wait and worry while I was taken into theatre.”

A period in intensive care followed the surgery before Helen was placed in a high dependency unit and eventually taken back to the transplant ward.

Helen, who is married to Bill, is now back on her feet and has vowed to help other transplant patients by highlighting that liver disease can affect people of any age.

She said: “It’s still early days, but the difference in me is amazing. I have my appetite back and I have more energy. I will have to take medication for the rest of my life and get regular check-ups but, essentially, I can live a normal life.

“Organ donation is a gift that gives someone their life back and I can’t thank my donor and their family enough.

“I don’t know who they are, but I intend to sit down in the not-too-distant future with the SLTU co-ordinator and write to the family to express my sincere gratitude.

“I cannot for one moment imagine their suffering and grief over losing a loved one.

“It is such a selfless thing to do to give the gift of life to others when you pass on.

“I’d say to people who haven’t joined the register yet that it could very easily be you or your family member who needs a transplant and you would want someone to help save them.

“It takes two minutes to register online or you can even text to join. Do it and then enjoy your life, knowing that, if anything ever happens to you, you could help to save people like me.”

Ms Sturgeon said there were 67 organ donors in Scotland last year – a rate of 13 donors per million of the population, which is up from 9.8 donors per million in 2006/07.

Sign-up rate to the Organ Donor Register has also hit an all-time high, with 37 per cent of Scotland’s population signed up to save a life, compared with the UK average of 30 per cent.

Ms Sturgeon added: “The tragic fact is that more than 600 people in Scotland are still waiting for a life-saving transplant and, across the UK, three people die every day because they don’t get the organ they need in time.”