Have One Of Mine

Saxophonist, Andy Williamson was on kidney dialysis. His friend Maff Potts (Hammond organist) said "Have one of mine!". Their living donor kidney transplant happened at Guy's Hospital on 7th August 2007. Now they've formed 'Big Buzzard & the Organ Grinders' and are releasing a single to encourage others to think about making this amazing gift of life. All proceeds from the song will go to the great young UK charity Live Life Then Give Life.

To order a copy, see below on the right.

This site was sdet up to try and persuade more people to consider being living kidney donors. In April 2008, one of our mutual friends became an anonymous living donor after seeing what a difference the transplant made to Andy's life and how easy it was for Maff to donate one of his kidneys. Being a 'non-directed altruistic' donor like this is still pretty new in the UK although it's been common in the USA for some time. People who do this receive no reward other than a huge number of medical tests (as the NHS will not allow someone to be a donor unless it's as sure as possible that doing so will have no long term detrimental effects on their health) and the feeling that they have given someone else a real chance to live a free, unencumbered, normal life - which most people take for granted.

One of the biggest problems facing potential donors is the possible hostile attitude they'll face from their family and friends (and sometimes from strangers too). They spend many months getting used to the idea of being a donor and accepting that it's something they're prepared to do, usually for somebody close to them. As you might expect, they don't normally broadcast widely their intention until they pass the final test and know that the transplant will definitely happen, usually pretty soon afterwards. At this point, it's quite common for people who know nothing about what's involved in being a donor to be very uneasy about the situation. They frequently think that the person who's decided to donate has gone mad in some way! They sometimes put severe pressure on the donor to change their minds. In some cases, the reaction of friends and family is so severe that the donor reluctantly withdraws from the living donation programme in order to avoid jeopardising their other relationships. This is obviously a very sad situation for evryone concerned who was hoping for the transplant to go ahead. It's really because of situations like these that we set up this site, to attempt to let people know more about what's involved in being a living donor from other people who've already done it and are quickly back to living their own lives completel normally.

Here's a short version of the song, dedicated to the great surgeons and staff at Guy's:

For the full version, visit www.myspace.com/organgrinders.

To get in touch with The Organ Grinders, or for more information about becoming a living kidney donor, .

If you're a transplant recipient from a living donor, or a living donor yourself, we'd love to hear from you. Everybody has a unique story to tell. We believe that the best way to get more people to consider being a living donor themselves, or - just as important - to support someone else who has made that decision, is to hear from people who've been through the process already themselves. We hope to compile as many of these stories as possible and to put them up on this site. Whether or not you want your story on the website, we'd love to hear from you anyway. Please do send us a mail.

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