My story

Bravery, burning desire to help or just being human? 

Throughout my childhood years I  climbed trees, broke bones, ran around kicking a ball the length and breadth of Britain scoring goals and dreaming of my future. In my case my dream was to help people and become a firefighter helping to put out fires, saving and keeping people safe. As far as I can remember, this is all I wanted to do and thankfully something I’ve achieved.

However, just over six months ago, I decided to undertake one of the biggest challenges of my life, that was to give up part of me to help another person live.

It all sound very heroic and brave, hey I’m a fire fighter, that’s what we do, but in reality it wasn’t heroic, admittedly it was a little brave, but let me explain why.

A friend’s brother, a young lad named Michael had been suffering with a condition that had affected his immune system since the age of five. A couple of years ago, this condition finally took its toll on his kidneys causing un-repairable damage and at the age of seventeen he was having dialysis three times a week.

I’ve known Michael for years, he’s a great lad, loves football and doing the things that any young man does at the age of nineteen. At the age of five he caught a virus which attacked his immune system damaging his kidneys. This went on until the age of fifteen when he noticed that he was feeling extremely tied when playing football, he just thought he wasn’t fit. Unfortunately, he found out it was due to very low haemoglobin levels and eventually had to start dialysis.

Michael was attached to a machine for four hours at a time, three days a week, if you put the travelling time into the equation, and the time his family spent looking after him during his visits to the hospital, it turned out to be around five days a week,  Michael spent most of his time resting.

During the first few years of dialysis, Michael couldn’t be added to the donor register until his blood count had reached a certain level. And it was only after further complications two years later and his spleen was removed to help his haemoglobin levels was he able to go on to the waiting list. During this time his family and friends were all tested to see if they could donate their kidney once Michael was well enough to receive it, disappointingly none were compatible.

In my job I put my life on the line all the time, that’s what firefighters do and sadly we have all seen some of my courageous colleagues give their lives to save others. People who know me understand that not many things phase me and in my job decisions are sometimes instant and sometime considered, they have to be. But this decision was different, there was no urgency of a blazing fire, no heat of the moment life or death choice, it was a calm quiet battle with my own thoughts. 

 In June 2011 we both entered Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth and underwent surgery and the procedure was a success. Michael doesn’t plan his life around dialysis anymore, he can do the things that anyone else can do, he has his life back and me I have one less kidney, I can still run, I can still do sports, I still climb trees to rescue cats and I live a normal life with the satisfaction that I was lucky to be giving a gift which was to be able to give a special gift to a great kid.

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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

 

My gallery 4

My Teams

My company

My charity

Southampton Hospital Charity

Southampton Hospital Charity

Charity Registration No. 1051543

Southampton Hospital Charity aims to complement and enhance services and facilities for patients and their families in the care of Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust. The NHS Trust supports the needs of half a million people living in the city and south west Hampshire, and also provides specialist services to more than three million people in central southern England, the Channel Islands and further afield. With your help the Charity can help to provide a hospital environment that exceeds expectations. <p> If you would like your donation or fundraising activity to benefit a particular area or The Red & White Appeal, please specify this on your fundraising page or, if making a donation, in the free text box.

Donations 185

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Good luck Jacob! love your amazing cousin!

Donation by Madeleine Cameron on 06/06/12

£5.00

3rd donation for a 3rd run, looking forward to seeing the guys again tomorrow :-)

Donation by Mark Marlow on 06/06/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Best of Luck Mate!!

Donation by George Hek on 06/06/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Good luck Markie

Donation by Nick Frampton on 06/06/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Go for it Chip, I am proud of you. Well done to all involved and God bless you all. xx

Donation by Laura Cameron on 06/06/12

£50.00

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Go for it Jacob!! Wishing you lots of luck :-) love Megan x

Donation by Megan Cameron on 06/06/12

£20.00

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Good Luck Jacob Cameron Let me know how you do x

Donation by Lloyd Moyce on 06/06/12

£3.00

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Best of luck mate

Donation by Ross Freeguard on 06/06/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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DESTROY that marathon bro, good luck!

Donation by George Allery on 06/06/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Do us proud Jacob Cameron, run like the wind bullseye. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

Donation by Jess Cheung on 06/06/12

£2.00

+ £0.50 Gift Aid

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best of luck jaycam

Donation by Rebecca Outterside on 06/06/12

£5.00

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Good Luck brother Jacob! BU BU BANGGG BASED GOD (CURRENTLY WATCHING THE THRONE!)

Donation by Ajay Sidhu on 06/06/12

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Good luck Jacob, I'm so PROUD of you! xxx

Donation by Leanne Hawkins on 05/06/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Donation by Anonymous on 05/06/12

£100.00

+ £25.00 Gift Aid

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Keep up the great challenge Stu & Phil . Have got the whole family now enrolled on the donor register. See you Friday.. T shirt size large . cheers

Donation by Geoff Baker on 05/06/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Well done Stu and Jacko, good luck on the last stretch x

Donation by Katy Bradshaw on 05/06/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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saw this via jacob cameron. Good luck

Donation by Matthew walker on 04/06/12

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Keep it up bro.

Donation by Sunil Thear on 04/06/12

£5.00

+ £1.25 Gift Aid

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Very well done to all involved. Good luck with the challenge.

Donation by HOGS on 04/06/12

£200.00

+ £50.00 Gift Aid

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Hi Stu I hope you are enjoying the challenge. Great effort all round. Thanks for what you are doing, Regards Haydn

Donation by Haydn Brown on 04/06/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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What a fantastic achievement !

Donation by craig montgomery on 03/06/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

stuey clelland donation for 3XL or 4XL T-SHIRT Well done to the pair of you.

Donation by Anonymous on 03/06/12

£30.00

+ £7.50 Gift Aid

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Congratulations

Donation by Paul Graetz on 01/06/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Well done all of you

Donation by Steve Brown (Friend of Keith G) on 01/06/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Donation by George & Laura Adamson on 31/05/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

Donation summary

  • * Online donations£10,121.30
  • Offline donations£1,200.00
  • Text donations£43.00
  • Total raised£11,364.30
  • Gift Aid£2,160.45

* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.