By Alan Bunce
Rich Burbedge spent the last two Christmases in hospital – and thought 2009 would be his last.
But thanks to a double lung transplant the 30-year-old from Tilehurst is fighting fit and can’t wait to spend Christmas with his family.
Rich, who has cystic fibrosis (CF), had been told his chances were slim without the transplant which had to be carried out within 18 to 24 months.
In June this year, just as the 18 months was up and Rich’s health was in steep decline, a donor was found.
The former Little Heath School student had been diagnosed with the illness when he was just three months old and, unusually, got through childhood without too much disruption.
But problems set in when he reached his 20s, eventually leaving him needing oxygen 24 hours a day. CF makes it hard to breathe and digest food.
If Rich wanted to go out he needed to carry something akin to a backpack with tubes feeding him oxygen through his nose. His mates called him Scuba Steve because he looked like a scuba diver. He carried a manbag full of tablets too.
Everyday tasks became harder. Putting his socks on could take 10 minutes, walking five metres to his car was sometimes impossible and getting to his job as a systems analyst at Xafinity in Greyfriars Road a non-starter.
He described breathing as if a belt were tied round his lung only allowing him to breathe to about 15 per cent of what he wanted to. Side effects of drugs added further complications.
Rich, a keen Royals fan, even gave up his season ticket because he was spending so much time in hospital as his condition declined.
Then in June he learned a donor had been found and a transplant possible. The operation took place at Harefield Hospital in Uxbridge. Since then his fortunes have reversed. “To say it has changed my life is an understatement,” he said.
“I don’t have to plan everything days in advance.”
Now he is working through a list of things he thought he would never be able to do. Going back to Madejski Stadium was one – he has managed three matches and plans to get another season ticket.
Another is to play football with three-year-old nephew Thomas, something he will do when he spends Christmas with his sister’s family and their father. Visiting the London Eye is high on his list too.
Rich, from Westwood Road, said great family, mates, colleagues and his employer helped him during the most difficult times.
All he knows of the lung donor is that he was a 21-year-old male. Rich, who is keen to encourage people to join the Organ Donor Register, said: “It’s about picking the right time for that. This family have lost a young man and I want to write to say how I appreciate what this family did and the decision they have made.
“It’s very humbling to know that in someone’s most sorrowful moment, they have done this.”
- While most people agree with the concept, only 29 per cent have signed the Organ Donor Register.
There are 10,000 people in need of a transplant to save or radically transform their lives, and three of those die every day due to lack of donors.
Emily Thackray, who chairs the national organ donation charity Live Life Then Give Life, said: “A lot of people just never get round to signing the Organ Donor Register, but it’s something that could affect any one of us.
“In fact statistically, you are more likely to need a transplant than ever to become a donor.
People need to consider whether they’d accept a transplant for themselves or for a loved one when thinking about signing up to become a donor.”
You can sign the organ donor register online at www.lltgl.org.uk or by calling the NHS Blood and Transplant service on 0300 123 23 23.
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