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HELEN'S DIARY: I don't like being alone anymore
Helen Miller, from South Anston, is waiting for a lung transplant and is keeping a weekly diary to support The Star's Gift of Life campaign. The 38-year-old mum-of-two wants readers to know what life is really like on the waiting list.
Helen, who was a training manager before she fell ill, now has so little energy that even brushing her hair and cleaning her teeth are exhausting. Here she explains how her condition affected her last week.
Sunday
DIANE, another lady waiting for a transplant, contacted me today - she has a chest infection. This is the worst news you could ever hear. Chest infections for us are life threatening.
I started writing another blog to go with the one I have on The Star's website. The blog - www.helen-miller.blogspot.com - is a site I have created to give more information about me and my condition. A couple of other women in the same position as me are putting their blog links on mine.
Monday
A GIRL called Louise has contacted me - she is 27 and in the final stages, the same as me. I have started to forge email relationships with a few people via this diary and it is helping me tremendously. I don't like being on my own anymore as I suffer from panic attacks quite frequently now.
Tuesday
STARTED to think what job am I going to do when I've had the transplant. I'd love to do motivational speaking. I'm quite an extrovert and feel I could really put messages across to people that would make a difference, especially in the transplant field.
Wednesday
LOCAL district nurses came round to introduce themselves to me. They need to know my circumstances in case I need to call on them in emergencies. Read in The Star about the family who donated their son's organs after he was involved in a horrific crash. I want to thank them, their son will have saved so many lives.
Thursday
TODAY has been fantastic. Through contacts I had the pleasure of being a guest on the set of Emmerdale for the day. Laden down with five oxygen cylinders and painkillers I went to Leeds to the studios, and then to the outdoor set to watch some filming. I met most of the cast who were fantastic and very chatty, and I took some photos of the set inside and out.
Georgia Slowe - Perdy - was fantastic and had planned the day for me to see as much as possible. She had used her day off to show me around. I can't thank her enough - I will treasure the memory forever.
The Star's Gift of Life campaign is aiming to add the names of 25,000 readers to the Organ Donor Register by August, when the 31st Westfield Health British Transplant Games take place in Sheffield.
Currently 8,000 people in the UK are waiting for a new kidney, liver, lung or heart. But a shortage of organ donors means hundreds people are dying on the waiting list each year.
To sign up as an organ donor, click here. You can also sign up for The Star Donor Run.
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Weather for Sheffield
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
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Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
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