A break from our break due to amazing news!

Our gorgeous Advocate Jessica Wales has been very very poorly recently and sadly spent Christmas day in hospital. We've all been extremely worried about her but incredibly, at the 11th hour, that call has finally come and Jess went down for transplant in the early hours of the morning.

Updates will be posted on the Facebook support group "Jessica Wales Rocks My Socks" but any major changes will be reported on here.

Jess was a very poorly girl and the first few days are critical, so please keep her and her family in your thoughts. We are also thinking of some very special people right now; the person who signed the Organ Donor Register and their generous family who decided to say "yes" and offer that gift of hope to Jess.

A Christmas break

Just a quick blog to let our fab supporters know that the team will be having a well-earned Christmas break from today until Monday 4th January.

Any urgent Media enquiries will still be picked up via email.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2010.

Love,

x

Christmas tears and dreams

Firstly we hope that all our LLTGL supporters have a wonderful, happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year.

Secondly, we would like to extend a huge thanks for everyone who has raised money for us, shared their stories and done sterling work in raising awareness of organ donation this year, however small.

Christmas and New Year are always bittersweet for us at LLTGL as it is a time we reflect on the feelings of joy and sadness we have experienced this year.

There are so many celebrations to be had, for Bethany, Gabrysia and Nelly will be spending the Christmas they thought they'd never see with their families.

This year will sadly be the first Christmas without many of the people who had fought hard to raise awareness or organ donation whilst they waited and hoped. We are thinking of the family of Ollie Faulkner, the gorgeous little boy whose kidney never came in time for him. This is the first Christmas that the family of Helen Miller will be spending without her. Baby Ethan's family will also be spending their first Christmas without him. Although he received his liver this year, it came too late and his poorly body couldn't cope.

Then there are those still waiting: Jess, Rachy, Paul and Tor who are potentially facing their last Christmas. This is Jess's fourth Christmas waiting and dreaming that the next year will be the year she is given her chance at life.

Please don't let it be their last, or the last for the other 8000 people waiting for a transplant this Christmas.

Please sign the organ donor register
Please tell all your friends and family
Please spread the word

Together we can use 2010 to fight for more transplants and more organ donors to prevent the needless deaths of people like Mary Hand, Robyn Tainty, Ubaid Ali, Richard Grannell and all of the other friends we have loved and lost.

A Christmas Fundraiser

Last week, the lovely Charlie Coe raised more than £700 and got people signed up to the organ donor register to celebrate the 6 month annversary of her double-lung transplant!


Charlie, 23, has Cystic Fibrosis and was placed on the waiting list 6 months ago after her health declined rapidly in November 2008 and she needed oxygen 24 hours a day. Waking up in the morning was a struggle and just doing the housework was such a great effort.

After an incredible 2 days after being placed on the transplant waiting list Charlie got her call. She says "I can not describe how good it felt to wake up and breathe how other people breathe...I have been making up on lost time going out with my friends, my husband and taking my dog on long walks. I have a whole new life!"

To celebrate 6 months of her new life, Charlie threw a huge party and used the opportunity to raise awareness of the organ donor register. It was a great success!

If you've been out and about raising money for us, or simply doing small gestures to help raise awareness of organ donation and transplantation, please get in touch with Jen !


Love as always,

Doing some serious business at the ICAP Charity Day 2009

We were extremely honoured to have been invited to the 17th annual global Charity Day hosted by the world's premier interdealer broker ICAP. Every year, the company holds a charity day involving all employees across the globe. It is a huge affair and has so far raised over 100 million pounds for charities across the world over it's 17 year history. It is also an event that attracts the cream of A list royalties and celebrities as they come along to thank staff on behalf of the charities they support and represent.

This year, LLTGL were there because of a very special lady and her husband. Tim McCarthy worked in the IT Network at ICAP for 4 years. In July, 2009, he died in a motorcycle accident. Tim was a blood donor and on the organ donor register and four people had life saving transplants thanks to the decisions he made when he was alive.

Sarah and some of Tim's colleagues decided to honour Tim at this year's charity day by encouraging employees throughout the huge organisation to sign the organ donor register. Sarah is an incredibly brave and inspiring woman and was there herself to talk to people about Tim and organ donation. She was joined by her sister, Tim's parents and the two donor co-ordinators that supported her on the day of Tim's death and ever since. LLTGL were invited to come along to talk to people about organ donation and share our own stories.

Advocates Audrey Eade and Nehal Shah joined Sarah Milne on the chaotic trading floor alongside staff dressed in every manner of fancy dress from Andy and Lou from Little Britain to knights, dragons, polar bears and everything in between. Each team had a theme and not only dressed themselves but also their areas. As we toured the building talking to people and handing out leaflets, we walked through action man camps, curry houses, hospitals, jungles, spaceships.

LLTGL were given our own special area on one of the trading floors, transformed for the occasion into a regatta. Nelly, Sarah and Audrey encouraged people to visit by offering Pimms and a chance to race against Olympic rowing medalists in an interactive rowing machine race.

Several celebrities wandered in and out throughout the day, and we bagged 30 seconds with Kevin Spacey, just enough to tell him about organ donation and give him a form, which he put in his pocket and promised to read. We also managed to get forms to Jo Brand, Des Lynam and Kelly Brook. The GB Olympic Rowing team also promised to sign the register. Sadly, we were all disappointed to have missed the chance to talk to Jedward, as whether or not you managed to catch a glimpse was the talk of the building!.

Despite the fantastic party atmosphere the real job of the day was to "Make Every Deal Count" and make as much money as possible. A massive 11.5 million pounds had been raised by close of play. For LLTGL, the main job of the day was to tell as many people about Tim and Sarah and encourage them to make today the day they make the same decision Tim did. Over 100 people visited our regatta to sign the organ donor register in his honour, and hundreds more took leaflets home to consider their decision.

As ever, we encouraged people to talk about organ donation with their family and friends in the hope that the ripple effects from one man and his courageous wife will carry on . Every single employee in the London office was given a leaflet about Tim and organ donation, with the web address and phone number to register.

It was an unmissable opportunity to spread the word about organ donation, so our thanks go to Peter Lewington and his colleagues at ICAP for organising it and to Sarah and Tim's family for being so brave in doing this in his memory.

The Fifth Plinth Project.... in Cambridge!

Despite missing out on a chance to shout about organ donation from the top of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square over the summer (though Clare, Andy and Tim did just that!) we were happy instead about bagging our place on Cambridge's very own Fifth Plinth!

As part of Cambridge's Mill Road winter festivities, our advocate for the Eastern Region, Audrey Eade, was given a spot to do what ever she liked, Antony Gormley styleee! Using the moment to her advantage, Audrey braved the cold and wind to spread the message about organ donation

Audrey had a helping hand from her beautiful son who was born when Audrey was in the late stages of liver cancer. Following his birth, Audrey was lucky enough to receive a donor liver. Knowing that his mum's life was saved by a generous donor, he distributed donor cards and information leaflets, telling anyone who would listen that transplants save lives.

Even simple gestures such as these can make a huge difference in getting people to think and talk about organ donation. There are a million ways to spread the message: Let us know what you've been up to!!

The Downing Tweet Christmas Party

Last Friday saw an exhilarating night at 10 Downing Street, for chairman Emily, advocate Holly Shaw and PR guru and photographer Sarah Milne took in cocktails and canapes in the presence of Sarah Brown and Prime Minister Gordon Brown

In order to support maternal mortality campaigns www.millionmums.org and @WRAGlobal, Sarah Brown wanted to draw together a diverse bunch of people who use Twitter for the power of good. We were really excited therefore that our high-profile Save Jess twitter campaign (spearheaded by Emily and Sarah) and Holly's wonderful Battlefront campaign were successful enough to be recognised in this way.

It was such an awesome opportunity to mingle with people from all walks of life: from other ordinary people like us who run charities and support networks to people in PR with an interest in social networking, political bloggers, writers, broadcasters and best of all, Sarah Brown herself.

To read more gossip from the night, head over to Holly's, Sarah's, and Emily's blogs for their accounts

Please vote for Emily, our 3 Minute Wonder!

Tissues at the ready....

Award winning creative film-maker Rob Hindle contacted our chair Emily a few months ago about making a documentary for Channel 4's 3 Minute Wonders, an entry for a competition called "It's good to know..."

The film, "I'd Give You One" is now up on 4docs website. Be warned, it is extremely hard-hitting. Rob has put together a film that takes us through the emotions that Emily, chair and co-founder of Live Life then Give Life, faced as she waited for her transplant and subsequent recovery.

It opens with the terrible choice that awaited Emily as she lay dying: Either we weld your lungs to your chest cavity so that you can breathe, but that will be permanent and you will die within a year; or you can wait to have both your lungs transplanted, which may never happen and if it does, you are likely to die before you ever get it...

If you can, please can you register so that you can "love" it (by clicking the tab with the heart next to the screen) - the more love it gets, the higher up the list it goes. The winning documentary will be shown on Channel 4.

With love and tears,

The LLTGL Christmas media campaign

The Christmas Media Campaign is one of the cornerstones of our work here at LLTGL and one we have always had lots of success with over the years. Our aim is to highlight that Christmas is a particularly poignant and emotional time of year for all people affected by organ donation and transplantation: Those waiting for transplants who fear it may be their last; those who have had transplants who remain alive to celebrate with their friends and families; the families of those who died waiting; and to honour donor families who will be spending Christmas without their loved ones.

This year, our friend Sarah Milne will be co-ordinating our Christmas campaign. We are already off to a good start with Rach Wakefield's story on newswire, but we need more! If you are interested in being featured in the LLTGL Christmas campaign please message her with a brief summary of your story and a Christmassy quote about what this Christmas means to you.

With love as always,

Pics from the vinspired awards...

Head on over to Holly's blog for a full write-up and pictures!

Well done again Holly, from all of us at LLTGL !

Volunteers needed for Round the World Race

The Clipper Round the World Race will leave the UK in September 2011 and travel 40,000 miles visiting 13 countries and involves 10 identical stripped down 68 foot racing yachts. As there is great media interest in this race, the British Transplantation Society are keen to use this unique opportunity to promote organ donation and transplantation on a global stage as well as in the UK.

Professor Steve Wigmore is putting together a team to act as ‘Transplant Ambassadors’ in a relay on each leg of the Clipper 2011-2012 Round The World Yacht Race. Sailing experience is not essential as training is provided and the boats are skippered by professional yachtsmen. What is essential is enthusiasm and reasonable health.

The BTS are looking for volunteers in the following areas:

• Crew members
• Organization, logistics,
• Web design, media
• Fundraising.

They are especially keen to hear from transplant recipients or living donors who are in good health to man the boat!

Interested? Contact Steve Wigmore ( s.wigmore@ed.ac.uk ) before December 18th 2009

Gifts of Life

Huge well done to Holly Cocker, a photographer from London, whose photographs grace the cover of this month's Kidney Life magazine, a quarterly publication from the National Kidney Federation. In 2006 the NKF published the Transplant Manifesto, which spurred on the creation of the Organ Donation Task Force to make a number of recommendations to increase the number of organs available for transplantation.

Holly was given a transplant from her best friend Oli last year, and created the Give and Let Live project to highlight the special bond that exists between living organ donors and their recipients. Together with Sarah Milne, a freelance writer and photographer whose son Will had a small bowel transplant also last year, they have created the "Gifts of Life" project.

Holly and Sarah will be working with LLTGL in 2010 on various projects to showcase their photography and raise awareness of both living and cadaveric donation. We are all super excited to be working with them both, so watch this space for news and info about upcoming projects!

ps. Our eagle-eyed supporters will also notice Andy (a.k.a. saxophonist with Big Buzzard and the Organ Grinders, who produced a charity single for us in 2007) along with his awesome donor Maff! You can read more about Andy and Maff on their website Have One of Mine, where you can also still buy our single!

**Breaking News** Holly Won!!!

Holly Shaw, our super duper North West advocate, just won the national vinspired SHOUT award 2009 for all of her work raising awareness of organ donation!


Congrats Holly! More news and a full update coming soon!

Love,

New correspondance address

We love recieving mail! If you fancy sending us a card, a letter about your experiences, a donation or just something to say hi the old fashioned way, please use this address:

Live Life Then Give Life
PO Box 583
Epsom
KT179HD

Lots of love,

We love our lovely Tor

Although we talk a lot about the sterling work that our official advocates do for us in promoting organ donation, raising money and generally being superstars, we also have a network of volunteers that sort out our websites, do research about organ donation, help us out with PR work and generally keep things ticking over

Our lovely Victoria Tremlett, who is one of our featured life-stories, does huge amounts for us even though she is currently struggling as she waits for a double-lung transplant. In particular, she keeps us on our toes and generally helps us organize some of the teeny-tiny bits and bobs that come with running a charity. She is also something of a media star, having appeared on BBC Breakfast news just before the Save Jess-tival to talk about organ donation (and managed to squeeze a heck of a lot into a small amount of time!).

This week, Tor was featured in The Saturday Guardian's 'Experience' section. An emotional, moving account of Tor's life as a cystic fibrosis patient, life on the transplant waiting list and her fears of not seeing Christmas, this article brought us to tears with the powerful message about why we will always continue to fight for organ donation

You can read more about Tor over on her blog, which chronicles her wait for a life-saving lung transplant. Please do pop over and say hello and give her a big hug from us

Love,

www.HelpJessBreathe.org

Holly, of Channel 4's Battlefront fame, just emailed us last week with details of a very interesting bit of help she received from the founder of Bebo, Michael Birch!

Holly met Micheal through her mentor, Oli Barrett, during the filming for Battlefront down in London and after emailing him about the Save Jess campaign, he emailed back with details of a viral website to use on facebook and other social networking sites.

The site, http://www.helpjessbreathe.org/ was set up to help people spread the word, so head on over!

Abseil for Life

(Photo credit: AJS Photography)

Last week, our lovely North-West advocate Holly Shaw put an impressive 38-strong team together to complete her abseil challenge down the 100ft Leasehowe Lighthouse on the Wirral. Abseilers included our Welsh advocate Andrea Evans and the always wonderfully enthusiastic Team Ethan!


None of this would be possible if it wasn’t for Holly’s donor and the fact that their family said yes to Organ Donation. Holly says: “I wanted to do a physical challenge to show what a difference this transplant has made to my life....I will be eternally grateful to the donor and their family for giving me this chance at a new life I intend to make the most of my precious “Gift of Life” and I am keen to continue raising as much awareness as I possibly can.”

So far, Holly and her amazing team have raised over £3,500 for us!! There's still time to sponsor her, by popping over to her JustGiving page at http://www.justgiving.com/LLTGL-abseil/

Thanks to all of the brave Abseil for Life team for facing this daunting challenge on our behalf!!

An afternoon at Imperial College

Left-Right: Emily, Dr. Anthony Gordon and Pauline

This wednesday afternoon we were lucky enough to find ourselves at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust Clinical Ethics Committee Open Day. LLTGL chair Emily and treasurer Mandy, together with the fantastic Pauline (from our friends the Donor Family network) were invited to present to the committee at a special session on the ethics of organ donation. These kinds of opportunities are really vital to us as a charity, for it is a chance for us to get our message across to the people at the top who can address some of the structural issues surrounding organ donation.

Following presentations from Dr. Anthony Gordon, the Trust's Organ Donor Champion, transplant surgeon Mr. Vassiolos Papalois and the Trust's living donor co-ordinators, it was our turn to work some LLTGL magic with personal stories surrounding transplantation and organ donation.

Mandy started off by showing the LLTGL slide show, which tells of the most powerful aspect of organ donation: those lives that have been transformed by organ donation, those lost and the fear of those still waiting. Pauline then gave a very touching presentation about the donor family perspective. Although she made the point that Donor Families don’t want to be treated as heroes, Emily made the point for, I feel sure, all of those of us who have been lucky enough to have received an organ, that to her (and us) they are heroes because they really have changed our lives.

Emily then gave a wonderful presentation about the reality of life on the transplant waiting list, and the contrast with her life now and, as is her usual style, there was scarcely a dry eye in the house!

Most importantly the feedback from both the clinical staff present and ‘lay’ people reminded us just how powerful it is to hear firsthand experiences of organ donation. Thanks to all of our supporters who share with us their stories, for every single one helps us reinforce why organ donation matters so much.

Love,

An encounter with Phil Jupitus!

How exciting is this!?!? One of our supporters, Pete Franklin, was on twitter when Phil Jupitus tweeted:

"Time 4 the 'cap & cake' challenge. Am now in Stop The World cafe in Leigh and will buy coffee & cake for first 2 people to come up to me"

Despite being tied up, 15 minutes later feeling he had nothing to lose and eager to do something for himself and for us, he grabbed some marker pens, a camera and a SaveJess Tshirt. Amazingly, Phil was still there!

Phil bought Pete a double espresso and they sat down for a nice chat. Phil told Pete all about the comedy work he'd been doing and Pete, bless him, told him all about us and the Save Jess campaign! Phil kindly offered his help, including signing a SJ T-shirt.

Pete's encounter has really made his, and our, day!!

I Hope You Know

Exactly a year ago, Sarah Springett, lead singer of The Floe, gave her boyfriend Paul the once-in-a-lifetime gift of a kidney. In honour of the first anniversary of Paul's transplant, The Floe have launched a campaign to raise awareness of organ donation with the release of their first single, "I Hope You Know"

All proceeds from the single will be donated to The Transplant Trust and all people who buy or download the single will be encouraged to sign the organ donor register. We think this a fantastic way to mark Paul's transplant anniversary, so please forward this on to everyone you know!

To hear Sarah talking about why the single is so important, as well as to listen to some snippets of the song you can check out this video from The Floe:



To read more about the band and find out where they're playing next, you can visit them at their website, www.thefloe.com/

LLTGL on the Secret Millionaire!

Finally, we've managed to acquire a clip of our Welsh advocate Andrea Evan's star turn on a Vodafone Ad in between The Secret Millionaire! You can spot her 5 clips in!





Andy, who does a lot of work for St John's Ambulance, received an email asking her to go along to Cardiff Bay to promote the first aid charity. As one of her colleagues had already done a segment asking people to donate themselves to St John's Andy jumped at the chance to mention us! Although she was nervous about how she was going to get onto the giant box, after plenty of giggles she climbed up and said why she would (and does!) donate herself to us!


Andy says: "The filming was pretty fun, however I had to repeat myself- and each time I did it slightly differently, which meant that it took longer to film. Thankfully the sun was shining and it was a lovely day!"


Well done Andy, and huge thanks for all you do for LLTGL!!

Raise money for us with eBay!

What a difference a click makes! You can now raise funds for Live Life then Give Life by selling your stuff through eBay!!

The best part about this is that everyone wins!

• We get between 10-100% of your final selling price. If you select Gift Aid, the taxman will add 28% to your donation!
• Your listing stands out from the crowd with a charity ribbon. You can also find new buyers, increase your customer loyalty and watch your bids and sales grow
• Best of all, eBay will credit back your basic insertion and final value fees, equal to the percentage you donate

This is a quick and easy way to raise funds for us - here's how it works, the 1-2-3 of selling for Live Life then Give Life:

Once you’re ready to sell your item, go to the Sell hub and select ‘Advanced Sell’.

As you’re filling out the details, look out for the charity box just below where you set your price. Select Live Life then Give Life (id 33095) to support and the percentage (10%-100%) of your final selling price that you'd like to donate. The minimum donation is only £1 per listing.

A week after your item sells, MissionFish (eBay's charity partner) will automatically collect the donation from you. You can also manage your donations through the 'My Donations' section of My eBay, under the My Account tab. Any fee credits will appear on your next invoice.

We currently don't have anyone selling for us, why don't you be the first?

Huge thanks to our lovely advocate Louise Lawrence for spurring on to get this sorted!

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step...

...and with two people.

Emily here, writing a slightly different LLTGL blog, because we are coming to the end of an era. Well, hopefully only temporarily!

Our fabulous Emma is going off on Maternity leave, which means she is stepping down from the LLTGL Trustee Board for the time being.

It is impossible to put into words the contribution Emma has made to LLTGL up to this point, suffice to say that without her, it wouldn't exist. When we dreamt up the idea of "a little T-shirt campaign" back in 2005 I don't think we ever dreamed we would become a fully fledged, highly successful and rapidly growing Charity!

Emma has invested her heart and soul into LLTGL since its conception, and we will all miss her hugely. She has of course, reminded us that she won't be far away and will hopefully be back once her new arrival is here and the family is fully settled.

Em, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for everything that you have done so far, for all your hard work and dedication, and from me personally, for your love and support throughout the darkest times.

We wish you all the luck in the world and look forward to having you back - don't think you get away that easily!

We will keep our supporters updated with baby news! Please feel free to take the opportunity to leave messages of thanks and good luck for Emma here.

Best of luck Em - we love you!

Emily and all of us at LLTGL xx

Celebrating a 10th heart/lung transplant anniversary

We always love to hear stories about people who are doing so well after transplant, and especially so when that is a heart/lung transplant!

The lovely Jacqui Mansell, who has always been an incredible supporter of ours, received her transplant 10 years ago and chose to celebrate it with staff at the Frimley Park Hospital’s Knight Centre, who cared for her both before and after her transplant.

Jacqui, aged 62 from Woking, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis in her late 40s, and listed for a transplant in 1998. She received a heart/lung transplant in September 1999 and her own heart was passed on to another person who could benefit.

Jacqui says: “I can’t tell you how nice it is being able to do things like going to the theatre and restaurants without ducking out because I had a coughing fit. I love bird watching but before the operation I couldn’t even go and enjoy the dawn chorus because my coughing spooked them! ....Now I love walking, gardening and going to the gym but mostly it’s just so special to have a normal life.”

Congratulations Jacqui!

And what a night it was!

After merely 2 weeks of frantic planning and preparations, Save Jess-tival took place on Friday 16th October and was a truly fantastic night.

First and foremost, we would like to thank all those wonderful volunteers who worked so hard up to and on the day to make Save Jess-tival possible; it would not have happened without them.

The acts were all superb; new talent Susanna Cork opened the show (this girl is going to be big, watch out for her!) followed by the fabulous comedian Ed Byrne who had the crowds howling with laughter.

Mr Robin K, another new act, did a fantastic job with his very funny self-penned songs and then came our headline act, Natalie Imbruglia. In between songs, she urged the crowds to take the proactive step of signing the organ donation, a plea met with huge applause.

Canadian funny man Glenn Wool entertained next, followed by the closing act the Yeah Yous; a fresh and upbeat new band who had everyone up on their feet and clapping along!

We were thrilled that Jess and her family were able to attend the event, and who better to finish the evening than Jess herself, who wrote a few lines thanking everyone which were then read out on stage. At the end of the speech, Jess wrote "my dream is that one day no one will die whilst waiting for a transplant. Tonight is one step closer to that dream."

Inspired? Click here to donate in aid of the Save Jess campaign and click here to sign the Organ Donor Register.

NHSBT's new hard-hitting campaign

NHSBT have today launched a brand new hard-hitting campaign to try to close the gap between those who say they would accept an organ if they needed one, and those who have signed the Organ Donor Register to say they would give one.

You can view the new campaign by clicking here to visit the website. The new TV ad will be screened tonight for the first time, but you can watch it here.

What do you think? We'd love to hear people's reactions.

Exclusive SJ news in The Sun, this Thursday

How exciting! The Sun have agreed to publish a full spread on our Save Jess campaign this Thursday, with some exclusive news from the night.

The Sun is the biggest selling newspaper in the UK, and with 3million readers offline and 14 million online we're sure it'll get even more people thinking and talking about organ donation.

Love,

SaveJess-tival: Updates coming soon, promise!

We'll have pictures and a full write-up of the awesome night that was the SaveJess-tival extravanagza last Friday very very soon, we promise!

In the meantime, we'd just like to give a shout-out to all of those who helped out in whatever way they could: Spreading the news on the blogs and twitter, offering raffle prizes, putting us in touch with friends of friends who could help, manning the doors on the night and all those teeny tiny million and one things that needed to be done to make it a spectacular night.

Thanks, from the bottom of our hearts, from all of us on the SaveJess-tival organising team!!!

A heartbreaking reminder....

Whilst we were all hugely excited and caught up in the preparations for Save Jess-tival Friday the 16th was also tinged with heartbreaking sadness, for it was also the day of Ollie Faulkner's funeral.

Ollie, a gorgeous and vivacious little boy, was born with complex kidney problems in 2000 and had been waiting for a kidney transplant for over a year. Despite his complex medical issues, he and his family faced the wait for transplant with incredible courage. We were devastated to hear that his call never came in time.

Ollie and his family are in our thoughts, a reminder of why we put Save Jess-tival on in the first place: For all of those who have lost their lives waiting for transplants, those who are still waiting and for donors who have transformed so many people's lives.

The full line-up!

A star-studded night of music and laughter in London to raise funds for the Organ Donation Charity Live Life Then Give Life.

Presenting.....

Natalie Imbruglia

Since her 1997 single ‘Torn’ propelled her from the popular Australian soap Neighbours to a successful international singing career, Natalie Imbruglia has sold over 12 million hit albums worldwide. Natalie’s latest work reflects the tutelage of a string of prestigious artists, writers and producers such as Chris Martin, Brian Eno, Ben Hillier (Blur, Depeche Mode, The Horrors) and Dave McCracken (Beyonce, Ian Brown). As a result, her latest sounds are raw, sassy, sexy, humorous, elegant and also deeply personal. Natalie is also a successful actress, model and a devoted charity campaigner.




Ed Byrne
As an observational stand-up Ed Byrne is unrivalled, turning colouful anecdotes into eloquent wit with aplomb. A Mock the Week favourite, Ed’s sparkling style has led to huge international acclaim, barnstorming performances and regular TV and radio appearances in the UK and the US.



Glen Wool

Vancouver native Glenn is a cool, laid back performer who has been a headline act on the UK circuit and at festivals worldwide for several years. His material is surprisingly political and hard hitting for a man who gives the impression that he couldn’t care less about anything. Never afraid to spring a surprise or two, he adapts beautifully to an audience and has all the comedy tools at his fingertips.




The Yeah Yous:
With the release of the stunning 15 Minutes and Getting Up With You, The Yeah You's are off to a flying start. They are currently Album of the Week on Radio 2 with their debut offering LOOKING THROUGH YOU and attracting support from the likes of Chris Moyles who described their music as "So good it's Robbie William's Sing When You're Winning territory....'". Mojo music mag even described their debut album as "like a Greatest Hits" package. Signed to Universal Island records, the duo Mike Kintish and Nick Ingram, who met when former actor Nick auditioned for Mike's play, are set for big things over the next year with their upbeat melodic "you'll need a trained pyschotherapist to get these tunes out of your mind" pop

Mr Robin K:
Mr Robin K is practically one of the newest faces in comedy. After years of watching stand ups, writing songs and thinking to himself "If only I could combine a way to do both these things and make money from it" Robin K feels that he might just have discovered the answer. Formally a singer/songwriter trying to make it big on MySpace with teen angst filled piano ballads about love, he has now turned his clever lyrical delivery, diverse musical style and razor sharp wit (if not cut throat it is certainly like a five day old Bic) to the art of musical comedy. Heralded as "A Tim Minchin in the making" (minus the big hair and eyeliner) Robin K is making his debut performance tonight, on his 25th birthday no less and hopes that this is the start of something special.

Singer/Songwriter Susanna Cork is hotly tipped as one of the UK’s rising stars. With her incredible vocal talent and ability to give life to a lyric, it’s plain to see why Cameron Mackintosh chose Susanna to play the role of Fantine in the West End’s Les Miserables.

Susanna has always enjoyed singing the melodies and lyrics of the worlds greatest songwriters, but her ultimate goal has always been to use ‘that voice’ on her own songs, drawing from her own emotions.

Now, 2 years spent developing her own original sound, Susanna is busy recording her debut album and signed to 24/7 Management. How does the album sound? Like Susanna’s voice – very honest. Susanna will soon be out ‘on the road’ performing her latest songs. Please drop by her myspace site at www.myspace.com/susannacork to check out future gig dates - free downloads coming soon.

Tickets are on sale here http://tinyurl.com/yk5w6yf
@ The Village Underground, Shoreditch. To view map click here: http://tinyurl.com/yke52mg

Can't get there but want to support it? You can donate to the cause at http://www.justgiving.com/savejess-tival

See you down the front!

SaveJess-tival news!

One of our super-star volunteers Tor was on BBC Breakfast this morning bigging up the Save Jess-tival!



We are hugely excited that the gorgeous Natalie Imbruglia is headlining our festival, along with Canadian comedian Glen Wool, Mock the Week favorite Ed Byrne and the Yeah You's!

We can't wait!

Many congratulations are in order!

We are extremeley proud today, for we just got wind that our North-West advocate Holly just won a regional Vinspired award!!!

Vinspired is a national charity that funds and supports voluntary organisations to help create inspiring and diverse volunteering opportunities for 16-25 year olds in England. Their awards help ensure that volunteers are recognised for the impact they make.

Holly did such a great job with her Battlefront campaign and all the other stuff she's been doing since -such as organizing a fundraising abseil for us!- that she has also been shortlisted for a Vinspired National Award in the campaiging category.

She's off to the glittering ceremony at the indig02 in London on November 26th. We have all our fingers and toes crossed for her!

Tickets for Save Jess-tival are now on sale!

It's official!

Tickets for our Save Jess-tival are on sale NOW!

Click here to buy and hurry, they're going fast!

Hope to see you there -thanks for your support!

x

Announcing: Save Jess-tival!!

We are very very excited to announce our upcoming ‘Save Jess-tival', a fantastic night of music and comedy to honour our wonderful Jess and to encourage people to "think about it, talk about it and do something about it" (organ donation that is!)

Our headline acts are: stunning singer Natalie Imbruglia, and Canadian comedian Glenn Wool and Mock the Week favourite Ed Byrne, with more to announce later in the week.

This star-studded fundraiser will place on the evening of Friday October 16th at The Village Underground in Shoreditch, London. Doors open at 7.00pm.

Tickets will be available very soon and are limited so, to make sure you are first in the queue, please register your interest by emailing us at info@savejess.org.uk and we will email you with full booking details as soon as the tickets go live, so you can beat the rush!

For more info on our 'Save Jess' campaign, please visit http://www.savejess.org.uk/

All proceeds go to the Organ Donation Charity Live Life Then Give Life, of which Jess is an Advocate.

*stop press* LLTGL at StreetFest

If you are London way and are looking for some fun this afternoon, LLTGL will be at StreetFest from 2pm this afternoon @ Hearne St car park, 7-11 Hearn St, Shoreditch, London, EC2 3LS

Building a modern day community of collective creativity StreetFest is a new breed of festival where the onus is on promoting and merging creative talents
StreetFest, is the first live art street festival in UK. StreetFest performers are drawn from a across the artististic spectrum ranging from creative painters, architects, designers, illustrators, skaters and writers who will be expressing themselves during the day through live demos, screenings and shows. This niche festival pulls together design styles and crews from all over the world.

Matt (our tall Trustee), his lovelly wife Bex and Sarah, our PR genius behind the savejess campaign will all be there... so if you're around please come say hello!

The great big LLTGL abseil!

On the November 7th 2009, Holly and her team of 41 will be taking part in a -gulp!- 100ft abseil down the famous Leasowe Lighthouse on the Wirral to raise funds for LLTGL.

Holly and her team have all been affected by organ donation in some way as recipients, donor families or have lost someone they love because their transplant didn't come in time. For Holly herself, the abseil represents a huge personal challenge that she would never have been able to contemplate without her wonderful donor and their family.

If you want to show your support, please dig deep and sponsor the big LLTGL abseil over at Holly's JustGiving page!

You can also join the Live Life Then Give Life Abseil group on facebook and follow Holly and her team on her blog!

Thanks as ever for your support,

Scared and frightened......

This is our South-East advocate Jess two weeks ago

This is Jess today
Jess is currently in hospital fighting for every breath. Her lungs are failing and so she is wearing a non-invasive ventilator to keep her going. We at LLTGL are very very scared that we are going to lose our beautiful friend all because not enough people are signed up to the Organ Donor Register.

Jess, and others like her who are also facing head-on the harsh and terrible realities of the lack of organ donors, can be saved.

Please take a minute to read about organ donation and transplants
Please sign the Organ Donor Register

Please talk about it with your family
Please tell all your friends
Please tweet, facebook, myspace, bebo- anything you can to get people talking about, thinking about and acting on organ donation.

Without a transplant soon, Jess will die. We don't want to lose such a wonderful girl and a special friend.

Please.

Did anyone see us on the telly last night?!?!

Woah!

Apparently we were featured last night on the Vodafone ads in between the Secret Millionaire programme

We all missed it and are dying to know if anyone else managed to catch the adverts?!?! If so, let us know what you thought!!

WE WON!!

What an exciting night last night was, and we are hugely proud to announce that last night, LLTGL walked away with Best New Charity 2009.

It was the Charity Times Awards 10th Anniversary and the evening was fantastic; we were genuinely surprised (and hugely thrilled) to win, and still can't quite believe that we're an award-winning charity 2 years running!

We've received such lovely messages of support and congratulations and we're really very touched by all the recognition.

They are small words but we have to say them again as there are no others: Thank you all, so very much.

x