Hello :)
So the title may not be the most clear, but bear with me and all will be revealed…
Some of you may be aware that I am off to Canada for the whole of July to attend a Global Summer School at Humber College which is based just outside Toronto. This is a summer placement organised through my university, where I will be joining around 200 other students from across the globe to complete a short course. In my case this is a podcasting course.
One of the reasons, I chose to study at the University of Salford was for its brilliant international opportunities. Some of you will know that I nearly ended up in Canada for a term from January to April this year, but due to various reasons, including the complexity of sorting our health insurance in a short space of time, I didn’t end up going. Consequently, I am determined to attend this summer and miraculously after a few hurdles health insurance is sorted - yippee!
As you’ve probably guessed this placement isn’t free it costs money approximately £4,000!
The majority of this figure is spent on the cost of the course which also includes my on-campus accommodation, 1-2 meals per day, airport transfers in Canada, and day trips. The rest of the cost of flights, other meals to be covered there, travel, shopping essentials, and anything else.
Thankfully there is partial funding of up to £1400 to help cover the cost of flights and living in Canada. However, because of how the funding works it's likely I will only receive around half of this figure before I start the course, the rest will be paid at the end.
I will still need to pay my rent and bills in the UK while I am in Canada. In addition, I won’t be working much for four to five weeks whilst I am away. For anyone who knows me I rarely go four days without working let alone four weeks. As a result, I have been working as much as possible during term time alongside studying, and since finishing the second year in mid-May. But there are only so many hours I can work, and it is a fine balance between working hard, and overworking, which can lead to illness or a flare-up of my health conditions.
But what has this got to do with a Transplant Sports Team I hear you say…
I am a heart transplant recipient, which among many things includes 31 extra years of life thanks to my donor.
I can compete in something called the annual British Transplant Games. If you achieve certain times or distances you can be selected for the World Transplant Games (WTG). Last year the WTG was in Australia and I was invited to compete for Team GB.
This, again, wasn’t without cost and I had to fundraise over £4,000 to compete. Thanks to many generous donors including the Royal Papworth Sports Team Lottery Fund who made this dream a reality, and I brought home a silver medal.
The Royal Papworth Sports Team Lottery financially supports Royal Papworth Hospital Transplant Sports Team members (who otherwise could not afford to) attend and compete in any of the transplant games.
However, as this course takes place throughout July, I am missing not only the British Transplant Games being held in Nottingham this year but also the European Transplant Sport Championships in Lisbon. But many of my amazing Team GB & Royal Papworth teammates will be attending.
Therefore I have decided to combine these two causes on this page!
Upon completion of this course, I hope to study podcasting in more depth as part of one of my final year modules...and of course, start a podcast! One of the podcasting concepts I am developing centres around inspirational people and what propelled them in totally different directions in life e.g. a life-changing diagnosis, massive career changes, to becoming a top sports person. And I won’t need to look far to find such people, with such an array of incredible transplant teammates.
One of the main aims of this podcast will be to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation and the transplant games. There might even be some more interactive podcasting ideas coming your way if we raise enough, so keep your eyes peeled...
I have set an ambitious target of £1,000 to raise, 75% of this will go towards the podcasting course, and 25% will go directly to the Royal Papworth Transplant Sports Team.
I know how difficult things are financially with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, so please only donate if you can afford to.
Any donation is gratefully received.
Big Love
Lucy xxx