Celebration Day 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

  Sir Roy Calne with the 45 Transplantees who attended Celebration Day

 

The  Celebration Meeting was addressed by Dr. Graeme Alexander and Sir Roy Calne.

Dr. Alexander began by expressing his delight at addressing such a large audience of healthy people.  He went on to give a brief resume of people with whom he had worked and who were known to the transplantees, and what they were doing now.  Twenty years ago Dr. Mike Allison had been running one clinic a week;  now he ran 27.  Dr. Alexander went on to outline the history of transplant in the area and explained that originally no-one outside Cambridge was ever offered a transplant.  Sadly, the number of transplants has not changed but the number needing them was going up.  However, the future held exciting prospects and he hoped also to develop cures for the diseases that caused the liver failure in the first place.                                     

Sir Roy expressed his delight at seeing so many happy, healthy recipients.   He said that the longest surviving liver recipient was transplanted 38 years ago from Addenbrooke’s and he went on to describe some of the advances in cellular biology by which it should soon be possible to grow new organs from a patient’s own cells, thus avoiding problems of rejection.  This was some of the most important work currently being developed.

Ruth Perfitt, a founder member of ALTA, asked if she might say a few words and she outlined the history of ALTA from its early days as a support group.  She had brought with her some most interesting archive papers and these were made available for all to look at after the meeting.

Mr. & Mrs. Sapsford and their daughter had organised a book sale which had not only raised the splendid sum of £425 for ALTA but this had also been matched by Barclays Bank making a total of £850.  They were thanked most gratefully for their hard work and generosity which was so much appreciated, and a photograph was taken of them with the large presentation cheque from Barclays.

Addenbrookes Liver Transplant Association

Charity Reg No. 1115971

Honorary President - Sir Roy Calne FRS