Erin's story: Happy 1st Transplant Anniversary to Erin!

Today marks the first anniversary of Erin's transplant, I can hardly believe it's been a year since this second chance of life came about. We were told to expect a few bumps in the first year post, there have been a few, but on the whole Erin has been blessed with a fairly stable start to transplant life, long may it continue!

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the day that Erin's donor actually passed away. We know very little information about the donor, only that it was a teenage boy who died from head injuries. We have specualted that it must have been an older teen as the other lobe of the liver went to an adult at Jimmys Hospital in Leeds, however old they were, a person passed away in tragic circumstances and a family have lost a son. We recently wrote a letter to the family, I'm not sure if it has been passed on yet, it is done annonomously through the transplant coordinators. It was a very difficult letter to write but I'm sure it must be an even harder letter to recieve. I hope it will bring them some comfort in knowing how much good has come from something so awful. We are going to honor the memory of Erin's donor by making sure she has a fantastic life, and part of that will be to celebrate this new beginning by marking each anniversary.

So today Erin and I went to her mini movers class at the gym with her best friend Kate, who is thankfully all recovered from the chicken pox and back on top form. Then we came home to collect Jamie and headed to Deep Sea World Aquarium for some fishtastic fun! We had a spot of lunch then did a bit of fish, shark and seal watching. If I'm honest Erin's favourite part of the trip was running up and down the ramps on the way down to the shark tunnel. She was also fairly impressed with the moving floor that takes you through the shark exhibition, it is a bit like the conveyor belt at baggage reclaim in airports so I can kinda see the attraction, oh and she loved big green bin that was shaped like a frog.....We got home and she had a play then we went out for dinner to Lanark Loch where she devoured a huge childs portion of cottage pie and a few sneaky french fries.She had a great day and was so exhausted she was sound asleep in bed by 6pm, unheard of in our house! How lucky are we? She is such a precious girl and will be treasured everyday.