A twice double lung, kidney and pancreatic islet cell transplant recipient is to walk the South Downs in honour of her donors.
Amanda Chalmers, 34, from Brighton has come back from suspected brain damage after several traumatic surgeries to walk 100 miles for charity.
Miss Chalmers, who was born with cystic fibrosis, is walking from Winchester to Eastbourne, with her husky dog Monty, in honour of her donors’ lives.
She is setting off on Wednesday, 7 September to mark the 10th anniversary of her first double lung transplant.
Miss Chalmers said: “It’s gonna be, I think, a very thoughtful time for me, especially when I’m by myself.
“But I’m still sort of amazed by the fact that my body is physically able to do things, when I have previously not been able to.
“I do like the challenge of things and it’s not going to be a walk in the park, I think it’s going to rain every single day.
“It is nearly ten years since my first transplant, and even though it has not all been plain sailing, I am humbled to have gained an extra decade of life and will be forever grateful to my donors and their families.
“I want to show people how receiving an organ donation is life changing, to do this for those who haven’t been as fortunate as myself and to honour my donors, as without them I wouldn’t be here today.
“Organ donation is quite literally the gift of life.”
Miss Chalmers received a double lung transplant at Harefield Hospital at age 24, a year after being listed when her health deteriorated seriously due to her cystic fibrosis (CF).
After recovery from the double lung transplant, Miss Chalmers completed the Brighton Marathon, climbed in Ecuador and competed in the British Transplant Games and the World Transplant Games in Malaga.
However, five years after her transplant, Miss Chalmers started to go into rejection and also developed diabetes due to her CF medications.
After a move to Switzerland, Miss Chalmers was placed on life support where she received another double lung transplant at Lausanne University Hospital.
The trauma of surgery led to kidney failure, and after months on dialysis while recovering from the second double lung transplant, she received a new kidney in Geneva University Hospital.
She also received two doses of pancreatic islets of Langerhans cells to stabilise her diabetes.
Miss Chalmers says the walk will take 10 days, one for every extra year she has lived since her first double lung transplant.
She said: “A walk may not seem big compared to previous achievements I have completed.
“However after being wheelchair bound and then bedbound before and after the surgery, the recovery from my second double lung transplant has taken a long time, starting with uncertainty as to whether I had brain damage from the surgery.
“My only movement was being able to move my eyes.
“I had to relearn how to move my fingers and hands, eventually getting to the first time I was able to stand up by myself and walk, so to feel that I can train my body to walk 100 miles is immense.
“That and I’m still a determined idiot and want to live life to the fullest.”
Miss Chalmers is fundraising for NHS Blood and Transplant and Swiss Transplant.
These two charities fundraise money, help campaign and raise awareness for organ donation in their respective countries.
If you would like to read more of her story and sponsor her, please go to her GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/2eb553f4
Very best of luck. Take it easy – it’s a harder walk than most people expect.