Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

My relationship with Harefield Hospital goes back over 9 years ago, when I was referred on a emergency basis to the hospital in a need for a double lung transplant. 

I was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at 3 months old as a result of failure to thrive. Since then, I had a childhood that consisted of daily physiotherapy, a mass of pills and intravenous antibiotics. I was still able to do most things thankfully. When I hit puberty, I became very skinny. Those with Cystic Fibrosis cannot digest fat, and need to take the enzymes that break down food orally in tablet form. Due to the increase in chest infections, all my energy was going to help fight them, and not put weight on.

When I was 14 I had to have a gastrostomy fitted, so I could have overnight feeding to encourage weight gain. As I got older, the infections became more severe, leading to long hospital admissions. Doctors tried a range of treatments from exercise, to different nebulisers, to new antibiotics and pioneering technology. Despite their best efforts, my lungs continued to deteriorate.

In 2011, I had to have my gastrostomy taken out and replaced, and to do this I needed a general anaesthetic. However when I woke up, my lungs became even worse, and had dangerous irreversible damage. Shortly after this minor surgery, my CF team decided at 16 I needed to be considered for a double lung transplant.

My lungs were functioning at a terrifying 15%, and when knowing 100% is considered the average, my life was looking very bleak.

In October 2011, I was officially put on the transplant list. After three false calls, where myself and my family had to rush to my transplant hospital clinging to the hope I may have the operation, I was turned down and had to go back home still sick, and becoming desperate. At this point I was in a wheelchair permanently, struggling to walk even the smallest distance and needed constant assistance to get out of bed, get dressed and washed. I was not only dependent on my family to do everything for me, but also used a non-invasive ventilator to force air into my lungs, as I was struggling to do that. Everything was looking very dark and frightening for me and my family.

But finally, just when things looked like there was little hope in the world, I got THE call. In February 2012 I was told the operation was going ahead. The donors lungs looked good, and I was able to have surgery.

Despite how difficult my recovery was, I was getting a little bit better every single day. I'd never experienced that before, so it all felt so surreal.

I had my transplant just in time, and I'm forever grateful to my donor and their family. I'm a whole different person now 9 years on. I've travelled the world, I've been to uni, I've met amazing people, and most importantly, my family haven't had to suffer a loss because of Cystic Fibrosis. Now I'm on my way to the big 10 year mark, I am wanting to give something back. So I'm planning to fundraise for the hospital that gave me my transplant.

Despite everything, I count myself extremely lucky as so many people I know do not get to have my chance of new life

Back to present day, It's a year until my 10th transplant anniversary - a HUGE milestone! So as a result, I want to do something monumental for the occasion, and I've decided to fundraise. I'm hoping my family, friends and I can achieve TEN fundraising ideas, in the spirit of my ten years, over 2021 up until my anniversary! I've been extremely lucky to have friends and family who are just as excited to help me achieve my goal, so fingers crossed we can smash it!