Audrey Eade • Advocates • LLTGL

Audrey Eade is our Advocate for the Eastern Region.

Audrey is 38 years old and lives happily with her husband and five year old son in Suffolk. She works part time and is fortunate to have a term time working contract enabling her to spend as much time with her son as she can. She worked for seventeen years as a Customs Officer, a job which involved working at many of the UK ports and airports. She loved her job and feels fortunate to have been able to fulfil such a physically and mentally demanding roll for so long.

Audrey has cystic fibrosis. In her youth, the condition was so mild that she was re-tested at seven years of age. Her first serious chest infection didn’t happen until she was thirty and even now, eight years later she has a good lung function and considers herself to be very lucky that she has managed to lead a perfectly normal life. She was amongst a minority of CF patients with associated liver disease and in 2002 an ultrasound scan showed new suspect areas on her liver. This was later confirmed to be liver cancer; a diagnosis which came when she was three months pregnant with her first child. At this point she took an indefinite career break.

Without a transplant, the cancer would have spread. It was only a matter of time. Audrey had matter-of-factly planned her own funeral. She'd chosen songs, some readings and even the type of coffin she would like to be buried in. Although she sincerely hoped it wouldn't be needed, she was all too aware how serious her illness was. Things were very uncertain for the family but thanks to pioneering surgery, a course of chemotherapy and an organ donor, they are all here four years on. Audrey’s keen business mind and life experience make her an extremely strong and valuable addition to our advocate team. Her current job in the public sector involves community liaison so she already has a few targets in mind!

Audrey wanted to help raise awareness of what organ donation can do. She has had articles in national newspapers, such as the Independent, The Mirror and local press as well as a magazine article and local radio interviews. She also spoke to people at the first ever 'Funeral Fair' which she found both bizarre and fascinating! Talking frankly about her own experiences gives her hope for others on the waiting list. Getting the message across to people who have never needed to consider organ donation is something she does passionately. She knows that her own experience and the experience of many others like her may persuade people to give the subject some serious thought. More importantly she believes they will take the next step and join the organ donor register.

Audrey feels that for her, Transplantation has made all the difference to her life. The difference being that frankly, she wouldn't be here today without it. She wants to share her own story to show that transplantation not only saves lives, it saves families. Every time she looks at her son she is grateful to her donor and their family for making the brave and amazing decision to give life after death.