Picture
People might be wondering why I put a blog page in about my friend Jen in the middle of writing about a trip to America but for them very reasons I felt compelled to write just a little bit about my friend Jen. I hope she forgives me for not asking permission to write about her!

Jen is a very close friend of mine from home. Not many people know that she is one of my close friends despite the fact that we do not see one another very often. I think that can be a true test of friendship, knowing you can be close despite the lack of seeing them often. Over the years we have traded music, helped each other through messy periods and often gone to Hadleigh castle which is an old ruin on a hill in Essex that at sunset offers fantastic views. In short, my friend Jen is awesome and I love her. 

Jen sadly has CF (Cystic Fibrosis) and even though I know she would be angry that I have used the word 'sadly,'  this is not something that makes her sad, it makes me sad that my great friend and other people with CF have to go through such things and still be so humble. 

There is a group on facebook that I would encourage people to join and read about Jen and her story. I have posted some of the page information on here (again, forgive me Jen for stealing the literature). 


Jennifer was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when she was 2 years old. Cystic Fibrosis is one of the UK's most common life-threatening inherited diseases and the average life expectancy is just 35 years old, with 3 young people each week losing their battle against this disease. There is currently no cure.

Cystic Fibrosis affects the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system, by clogging them with thick sticky mucus. This makes it hard to breathe and digest food causing progressive disability and often early death. For further information please visit :

http://www.cftrust.org.uk/ 

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Cystic-fibrosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Jennifer's older brother Richard also had CF and sadly died in 2005 aged 23 whilst waiting for transplant. Now aged 24 CF has ravaged Jennifer's lungs and she also needs a Double Lung Transplant to save her life, currently her lungs are functioning at 21% and she is on oxygen 24/7 and is constantly in hospital fighting repeated chest infections.

Jennifer cannot receive this amazing gift of life without your help, approximately 45% of us have the intention of signing up to the Organ Donor Register but just don't get round to it. The majority of us, 96% would accept a transplant yet only 27% of us have actively signed up to the register. 1,000 people a year, about 3 people a day die without receiving the transplant they so desperately need, there are now currently more than 10,000 people waiting for a transplant.

Please consider help saving a life for all of those currently waiting on the list and join the register today.

http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/