A woman who was forced to cancel her 60th birthday party for a liver transplant now plans to celebrate in style – and raise money to “give something back”.
Audrey Cameron, 60, became ill late in 2016, but added complications in April this year meant her condition rapidly deteriorated and she was put onto the donor waiting list.
Now at home recovering, the special needs teacher and her daughter Lindsay have organised a fund raising event for the transplant unit which is also doubling up as the celebration she had to cancel in August.
Explaining that she had to wait just 10 days for her transplant, Mrs Cameron said she felt “extremely lucky” to have been treated so quickly.
“I couldn’t believe it when the phone rang in the earlier hours,” she said.
“At first I thought it was one of my friends having a joke.
“They told me to get up and there would be an ambulance at the door within the hour. I was then taken by air ambulance down the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh – which only took half an hour.”
Mrs Cameron then underwent tests to ensure she matched the donor and estimates she was in the operating theatre just six hours after being initially woken-up.
After her operation, Mrs Cameron realised that there was no chance she would be recovered in time for the planned gathering to mark her big day.
“The hotel was brilliant about changing the date of my party,” she said.
“I had to stay isolated for a few months after the operation so I didn’t catch anything.
“We just thought that it would be nice to give something back and Lindsay came up with the idea of treating it as a fundraiser.”
The family’s Scottish variety night is being held in the Station Hotel, Ellon on Saturday, November 25 at 7pm. Tickets cost £10 and includes stovies and can be purchased from : lindztwo@live.co.uk
All funds will go to the Edinburgh transplant clinic and the ARI liver clinic.