Molly

My name is Molly and I'm 22. My life was saved by an organ donor 6 years ago. I was born healthy but when I was just 6 months old my small intestine telescoped in on itself which cut off the blood supply. As a result the majority of it died and had to be removed in a series of operations. I was left with just 30cm of small intestine which wasn't enough to absorb the nutrients from food, so I had to be fed a special liquid called TPN directly into my heart through a central line. I couldn't eat anything orally.

Me as a baby connected to my TPN

When I was two and a half, blood clots formed on the end of my plastic central line in my heart so I had to have open heart surgery to remove them.
As I grew up I attended mainstream school full time and apart from never eating and having the odd days off for hospital appointments, I did all the same things as my peers - even taking part in sports & going on residential school trips.
When I was about 14 I began to be teased at school for being 'green'. As time went on my jaundice (skin having a yellow tinge due to problems with the liver or gall bladder) progressed and I became increasingly lethargic. I also suffered from profuse nosebleeds leading to me needing blood transfusions.
After various tests and referrals to different hospitals it was discovered that my liver was failing due to me being fed via TPN. Just before my 16th birthday I was told that my liver was too damaged to repair itself and I needed a multi organ transplant to survive - liver to replace my damaged one, small bowel so I could come off TPN so the liver failure wouldn't re-occur and I was told pancreas was just part of the package and would make the plumbing easier!
I was put on the transplant waiting list and sent home to wait for the call. Several weeks later I returned to hospital for a check-up and was told there was a national shortage of organs so I could be in for a long wait. But time was running out and I only had a matter of months to live.
Looking very jaundiced with friends a couple of weeks before my transplant

Luckily I received my call just a few days later so we rushed to the hospital. I was in theatre for 12 hours, in intensive care for a few days and in hospital for a total of 12 weeks. In intensive care after my transplant

While in hospital I had complication after complication resulting in several more trips to theatre but once I got home I went from strength to strength.
After my transplant I was able to sit my GCSEs and then go on to sixth form, which I completed. I've had to take some time out from my studies/work due to other health problems but things are looking brighter every day. I'm now 6 years post-transplant - I'm learning to drive, doing some voluntary work and enjoying my life. I've travelled outside Europe and am looking forward to seeing more of the world. And I'm now able to eat completely normally, without any kind of tube feeds.
Swimming with a dolphin in Florida 16 months after my transplant

I feel privileged to have been in contact with and met my donor family because if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here now. I try to do my bit to raise awareness of organ donation so other people's lives can be saved and transformed like mine was. My call came in time but not everyone is so lucky. To find out more about organ donation or sign up online please visit https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/