Wednesday 21 January 2009

On Sunday I went to see 'Seven Pounds'. I had a rough idea of the story line and was looking forwards to it. I managed to cry from start to finish... The story was mainly about organ donation, something I'm obviously passionate about. Will Smith manages to crash his car into a bus whilst on his mobile phone; he kills 7 people including the passenger, his wife. He then sets out to save and improve the lives of 7 people, 5 directly through organ donation, 1 young life through bone marrow donation and another family he gives his home to as he plans on not needing it anyway. The lady he signs his house over to has two young children and is in a very abusive relationship. Though the story mainly follows a woman (who he later falls in love with) who has congenital heart failure and needs a heart transplant, she falls desperately ill and Will confronts her doctor on what her chances are of finding a donor. When he discovers she only has a 3-5% chance of finding a donor in time due to the rarity of her blood group he decides to take things into his own hands and ultimately commits suicide to save her life. He also restores the gift of sight at the sametime to a very worthy cornea recipitant. I think box offices estimated over 70% of a cinema audience will be in tears by the end of the film, it really is that touching. It shows how important the gift of life really is and shows how much organ donation changes lives. That can only happen though if you talk about your wishes with your loved ones (hopefully this film will get people talking!) and sign up to the organ donor register so go do it here!
Health wise for me in the past week or so things haven't been great. I've been seeing my primary consultant weekly now for the past two weeks and he admitted today he is concerned about the way things have become. To hear that from a consultant is worrying, I broke down on Tuesday at day hospice when I spoke to one of the staff about a letter I had received, a brief run down of last weeks appointment where he gets the message across about how worried he actually is. He said today he doesn't know why but there has been a clear deterioration in my lungs. Something is affecting my neutorphils (see previous post) and he doesn't know what, looking back at previous bloods my neutorphils have never been low before. Neutorphils make up 50-70% of your immune system. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that could cause alot trouble for me. It means I'm prone to infection and unable to fight off infection. With what little lung function I have infections hit me hard as it is what I don't need is hardly any immune system to fight them off with. He concluded by saying he would call my London team this afternoon and see if they can speed up the transplant assessment given the deterioration, he doesn't want to have to admit me to hospital because of the fact nothing can be done anyway to improve my current health and due to how compromised my immune system now is. He also said now there is a change in bloods they should see me sooner and hopefully work out a plan. He patted me on the back on the way out and said "I'm sorry; I wish I could do more but the orders come from above and I think we need to bang some heads together!"
Oh one last thing, I want to wish one of my friends and another hospice patient well with her operation next week, if you’re reading this best of luck and we will miss you at day hospice! xxx

4 comments:

lulu said...

Hun u r truly amazing and yes, I agree it is extremely frightening when a consultant shows concern. I am just hoping they are going to keep a special eye on u! I hope the rest of the week a lot better for u xxxxx

Marty Zelei said...

Hello Rachael, I have wanted to see Seven Pounds since I saw the previews on the TV. I did not realize that it was basically about organ donation. That makes me want to see it even more.
I am sorry that health things this past week or so haven't been great. We pray for you daily, either to get on the list there or that you are able to make it to the states. Are you set on that certian transplant center in the states?
Take care (that almost doesn't seem like the right thing to say because we know that you do....) but please know you are in our thoughts and prayers.
monica

Cristy at Living Donor 101 dot com said...

While I'm proponent of organ donation, films like "seven pounds" do more harm than good by spreading so much misinformation about the system.

http://sirencristy.blogspot.com/2009/01/truth-behind-seven-pounds.html

Talks about many of the errors in the film, and links to another article that discusses the issue even more in depth.

I wish you improved health as soon as possible.

sunshine rose said...

hi rachael my name is wendy and i have cystic fibrosis. i'm 31 and not yet on a transplant list. i saw on your video that you need to come to the united states to see a specialist, have you tried writting to doctors or even news stations? getting your story out there is the best way to get you here. i'll talk to my docs about you tomorrow and see if they have any ideas. why is it that they think your not stable enough for transplant? that's so unfair! i will try my best and i'll see if i can help in anyway possible. also i saw seven pounds and almost cried my eyes out. wow, that movie actually changed me. i'm not as cold with healthy normal people anymore, i hate when they whine about having a bad day. yeah, right. they should try a day in our shoes. your in my thoughts and prayers!!

 
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