We will be attempting a night ascent of the Old Man of Hoy on the 9th September in support of the Living Organ Donor program and Give a Kidney.
In 2013 my partner received a hand decorated parcel and thank you note from an ebay seller called Eleanor,her husband was on dialysis awaiting a transplant ,the note and cartoon drgs were so positive you could,nt help but smile ,but at the same time feel quite useless as first instinct would be to want to help
Prior to 2015 the only thing I know about organ donation was the opt in /opt out debate in the national press about deceased donors.
• I had no idea about the people who are born with a single Kidney who live perfectly normal lives.
• I had no idea that the law changed around 2009 regarding living organ donation.
• I had no idea that people could donate a Kidney,part of their Liver or part of their lung and carry on living a healthy and fulfilling life.
That changed when sitting in traffic on the Edinburgh city bypass on a wet November evening ,I accidentally switched over to a radio station I normally wouldn't listen to and heard an interview with a person speaking about the Living organ program.
They spoke about the process,their personal experience and the impact of their donation on their own lives,this enabled me to make my own informed choice and I was privileged to be able to make my donation in 2017.
As part of an ongoing campaign by Give a Kidney Scotland and the Scottish Sun,we are hoping to again raise awareness in the public mindset of the Living Organ Program and to show that a full and active lifestyle continues post donation.We also want to highlight the power that each and every one of has when we reach out positively to one another.
This also a celebration as its 10 years since the law changed in Scotland and the first Altruistic kidney donation took place.
The Night ascent of the Old Man of Hoy is the first stage of a campaign by the Oldmansaysaye team which all going well will see us attempt to scale El Capitan in early 2021 and we look forward to bringing a lot of people along with us in spirit.
Thank you in advance.
https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/