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HELEN'S DIARY: Living hell of life on the waiting list
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, which encouraged thousands of readers to sign up for the Organ Donor Register.
The 38-year-old mum of two wants readers to know what life is like on the waiting list.
Helen, who was a training manager before she fell ill now has so little energy that brushing her hair and cleaning her teeth are exhausting. Here she explains how her condition affected her this week.
SATURDAY
MY aunt came this morning and we had a fab day in Meadowhall, had a meal and shopped. She couldn't believe mum and I did this every Saturday but realised that this really was the only enjoyment I have outdoors that is secure and easy for me in a wheelchair. We then sat all night watching TV. Fantastic day.
SUNDAY
MUM, Abi and I had a lazy day reading and watching TV. I slept for five hours in the afternoon as I hadn't slept the night before. Don't laugh but I am falling to sleep every time I put on my Open University DVD. Its not boring but I'm sure there must be a subliminal message saying sleep!
MONDAY
THIS illness is one of the worst and unfair illnesses for your family to see you go through. There is never any respite, there is never a day when I feel better and need less help, there isn't a day when your family aren't under the extreme pressure. It's now been five years of going through agonising pain, being breathless and two years waiting for the call for a transplant. It's a living hell.
TUESDAY
I REALLY want to be at home and when I get there I panic thinking can I manage, but I can't at the moment.
WEDNESDAY
IT'S mum's birthday today. I posted her card from an online shop. Did tiny bit of shopping and then wanted to get home and sleep as didn't have a good night.
THURSDAY
HOSPITAL visit today. My nurse thinks I am having a build up of carbon dioxide in my body.
FRIDAY
MY consultant wants me in the hospital for tests as they think I am having carbon dioxide build up and if I fall to sleep I may not wake up. I am getting headaches all the time and not sleeping at night then dropping off in the middle of the day and not waking up without being touched and more or less shouted at. Abi overheard all this and was devastated, she went to work but then cried uncontrollably. They had to send her home.
- The Star's Gift of Life campaign has added the names of 25,000 readers to the Organ Donor Register.
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.
Click here to go to the Organ Donor Register
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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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