In 2009 my father sailed his yacht around Britain (his blog can be found at http://colette.grandagewebdesign.co.uk ) and I can honestly say that he was one of the most active people I knew.  He was a very active member of his local community including Honorary Secretary of the local Yacht Club and a keen member of a local choir. 

Approximately three years ago he started to suffer functional decline with lethargy, breathlessness, exhaustion with fluid accumulation around his abdomen.  Following extensive investigations through his local NHS hospital, Colchester General and then subsequently Papworth Hospital we were later informed this was due to restrictive cardiomyopathy causing right sided heart failure and that the only viable treatment option was for heart transplantation.  Due to his ill health he had been forced to sell his yacht and discontinue most of the activities which brought him purpose.  Thankfully he was deemed fit enough to go on to the transplant list and on 22nd September 2014 received his transplant.  Sadly 34 days later, on the 26th October 2014 he passed away in Critical Care at Papworth Hospital having not recovered after a couple of complications following his initial surgery.  We remain extremely grateful to his medical, surgical and intensive care teams for offering him this chance for a better quality of life.  We also deeply grateful to both Dad's organ donor and their family for making the brave decision to donate and give Dad a chance.  It was his opportunity to return to the lifestyle he fondly remembered. 

As we understand it there is a critical lack of organ donors and awareness of transplantation services.  I was staggered to learn that only approximately 120 patients receive a heart transplant in the UK annually and therefore decided to undertake the Race Across America in Dad’s memory and to publicise this lack of organ donors and to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

Please consider yourself in this situation, a relative desperately needs an organ transplant 

Would you want them to receive a donor's heart to potentially save their life? I suspect the answer is yes, so please discuss it with them and all sign up to the donor register.  Let your legacy be that you saved lives and gave others a much needed second chance.

Join the register at https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk

We are self funding the event so that all funds raised will go directly to the British Heart Foundation.

We aim to publish a blog to summarise our progress see http://www.facebook.com/SapsfordRAAMOrganDonorsNeeded

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.