Dropping back home out of the whirlwind

Hello...is anyone there? I wouldn't be surprised if not. I am so sorry it has been such a while since I last blogged. I have been incredibly busy and working flat out until the wee small hours every night then crashing. I have been meaning to blog but haven't been able to squeeze it out of myself. Well, today, I have come here before getting stuck into the evening's work.

So, what have I been up to? Before I explain, let's just revisit my first blog of November 2008.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2008

Bugs, bugs and more bugs!

We are not home! William got more bugs in his line so we are here for a while longer. His blood tests are not too stable and he is needing more potassium and is back on TPN for 22 hours a day. We need things to be a bit more stable before we can think of home. The main thing the doctor had to say was that we need his transplant and we need it ASAP!

Things were so unstable for William this time last year. Every day, all I could do was pray that his transplant call would come and, if it didn't, that he would still be there in the morning for me to pray the same again.

We were so, so lucky and William's call came when he was at his very sickest. It really came at the 11th hour. In three weeks, we will be celebrating the huge milestone of reaching a year after transplant. We were told the first 2 years after a small bowel transplant are the most critical and we are almost half-way there. Of course, we will be remembering our wonderful donor and her family who made this possible for us as we give thanks for the William we have today with all his energy and love of life.

We were the lucky ones. Others are not so lucky. If you have been following the gifts of life project, you may remember Oliver. Have a look here if you can't remember. Isn't he the cheekiest chappy? Very sadly, Oliver died 3 weeks ago. His little body just couldn't wait any longer for his new kidney. I got to know Oli and his Mum, Lucy, very well since meeting them in April and often popped into see them when I was near the Evelina Hospital where they had been staying since Oli fell ill the afternoon after the photo shoot. I feel so sad whenever I pass now, knowing Oli isn't there anymore.

You may also remember Jess. Jess is still waiting for her double lung transplant and has been critically ill several times since I last blogged and this is why I haven't blogged. Myself, and many of Jess's friends started posting about Jess on twitter and I had the idea of turning it into a media campaign. I sent an email suggesting this as an idea on Sunday morning, a week after my last blog post here. I had no idea where that mail would lead. If I explained all here you would still be reading at Christmas so, suffice to say, I have been on an incredibly steep learning curve, managing a campaign savejess, doing lots of PR and media work and persuading the likes of Natalie Imbruglia, Ed Byrne and the Yeah You's to play a gig for Jess and to raise awareness of organ donation, oh, and organising said gig in 2 weeks! It has been a whirlwind and I am only just winding down and getting back to normal. It has been exhausting but Jess doesn't have time to wait. Oli was struggling so much and I thought he would just keep on having close shaves but coming out the other side. I just hope Jess gets her call (the right one, she has had 9 calls that didn't result in a transplant, either because the donor lungs were too damaged or because Jess was not well enough.

There is a lot to tell about all this and it has had a huge impact on me and what I am doing now. I am aware I have missed a huge chunk out of the blog. I am now going back over the last few weeks and collating it all so I may well throw in a couple of catch up blogs. I will certainly be blogging about where this all takes me next. At the moment, your guess is as good as mine. For starters, I suggest you get hold of a copy of The Sun tomorrow as they should (and I say should as you never know in media) be running an exciting story about what happened at the 'Save Jess-tival' gig (another reason why I haven't blogged in the last 2 weeks as I had to stop myself blowing the exclusivity).

Meanwhile, the novel is coming along very nicely and I hope to try and get a publisher early in the new year. My other writing is also going well and I have a feature in 'Yours' magazine out next week. Writing is developing faster than photography at the moment. It is nice to have the two things because sometimes the door opens for one and others for the other. I also really enjoyed the PR side of Save Jess-tival and managed to get some great media coverage. This is something else I would like to do more of. As ever, I have lots of ideas and wish there were more hours in the day and days in the week. Some of my ideas are big but, after what has been achieved over the last month, I will no longer think that an idea is too big for me. If you have the passion and the belief that you can do it, you can do it!

I know I keep saying this but I really do promise to blog regularly again now so do get back to the habit of dropping by... I WILL see you soon...