CF Week 2013: Mike's Blog

Mike Mackay, from Witham, Essex, is living life to the full after transplant.





Mike here, I hope you are enjoying CF Week this year, my film is available to watch now.

When I was younger, I decided that a transplant wasn't for me; it seemed like a lot of “hassle” to go through. Yet, when the time came, it was something I wanted more than anything in the world. The more I began to struggle, the more I wanted it. Only I never ultimately knew whether I would have one or not...

I consider myself extremely fortunate to be here now, writing this. I've known many who haven't been so lucky and I feel it's only right that I make the most of this second chance at life. Before my transplant I was wheelchair bound, eventually bed-bound on a ventilator; I wasn't really living but just existing. I thought my time was up - I never thought I'd be doing silly things like completing the London Marathon or working in a full time job. In September I'll be climbing Ben Nevis to celebrate my sixth transplant anniversary. All of these achievements highlight just how much a transplant can change a life.

Without the generosity of my donor, none of this would be possible. Without donors, many people representing CF Week this year wouldn't be here. Organ donation is so important and the work the Cystic Fibrosis Trust does reflects that.

Without people like you, there wouldn't be people like me.

www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/cfweek

CF Week 2013: Philippa's Blog

Philippa, who was one of the first people to receive a transplant in the EVLP pilot, talks about the new lease of life her transplant has given her.



The Ex-vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) technique uses a modified dialysis machine to turn lungs that were previously deemed unfit for transplant into suitable donor organs.

For about a year or two before my transplant I was very poorly, I didn’t really have a life; I was just existing. I hardly went out anywhere as it was such a huge effort to get ready, and by the time I got dressed I was exhausted. I didn’t want to catch any new infections either. My lungs were functioning at just 17% and I would watch my friends and family live their lives from the side lines. 

I was on oxygen 24 hours a day, taking a massive cocktail of drugs, including continuous intravenous antibiotics and a range of nebulisers. I had to use a wheelchair if I did go out anywhere as I couldn't walk very far and I used a ventilator overnight to give me a rest from breathing. I couldn't do anything for myself such as having a bath or getting dressed as I just didn't have the energy or the breath. I was very weak. I also had to drop out of university as I was too ill to finish the course. That was a huge blow for me.

But now, I have an incredible new lease of life. Since my transplant I have been on holiday a few times, got myself a full time job, found love, moved into my own home and now I am planning my wedding, which is next year. My lung function is 126%, which I still can't believe! Two years ago when I was so ill, I never once imagined that life would be this fantastic after transplant. I still have to pinch myself to make sure this is not a dream.

I strongly support CF week because I want to help raise awareness of cystic fibrosis, but I also want to raise awareness of transplantation. A double lung transplant is very much the last resort, when your own damaged lungs are failing. Yes it is a massively scary time, one in three people with CF waiting on the transplant list don’t make it as there is a huge shortage of donor lungs. The wait itself is exceptionally difficult, but it was the only way forward for me.

Put simply, I wanted to live – so I had to do this. Because there is such a shortage of donor lungs that are suitable for transplant, doctors have recently been pioneering a new treatment where previously unsuitable lungs are treated to make them usable – this is the type of transplant I had, it is known as EX-VIVO, and was funded by the CF Trust. And I can honestly say my lungs are amazing, my life now is wonderful and I have no regrets whatsoever.

Watch Philippa's video about her experiences.

CF Week 2013: Emily's Blog

Emily, who has been waiting for a lung transplant since December 2012, describes life on the waiting list.



Hi I'm Emily and I'm the first of this year's CF Week case studies. You can watch my video online at www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/emily. I am supporting CF Week this year because the focus is on transplants. I have been waiting for my all-important call for over eight months now, I have had a false alarm and been very ill. I really want to raise awareness about the need for more lungs to be made available. Here's what waiting on the transplant list is like:

As most people with cystic fibrosis will tell you, you start off in your early years coping with all medications, or rather your parents do! You start taking the nebs and feeling like you really are beating cystic fibrosis, you get to your teens and start to think about your future, then suddenly, infection after infection slowly takes away your lung function. I had a terrible time last year and ended up in hospital for 10 weeks with a collapsed lung. I was put on the transplant list in December 2012, and my lung function is now at 25%. I am using oxygen 24/7 and a machine to give my lungs a rest called Bi-Pap. It’s exhausting.

To raise my chances of getting that all-important call I am signed up to receive reconditioned lungs through Ex-vivo Lung Perfusion, this is just one of the research projects funded by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, with support from the Robert Luff Foundation. It is just one reason why donating money during CF Week or any other time of the year to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust is worth your while. If it means I and others waiting for lungs get their call it will be worth it.

My friend Tom Chalk is running a 250 mile ultra-marathon for the Trust to help fund vital research. Visit his fundraising page if you want to support him: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomChalk.

Don't forget to read more about the consultation being launched today, this is now open for people to respond to, you can find this here. Hope you enjoy the video and the Week.

Emily

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Watch a video about Emily's story.

Ed Owen, looking forward to CF Week

I am looking forward to this years CF Week. Here at the Trust we are having an event every day.  It promises to be as lively as ever with over 100 events across the UK during the week. As we embark on our fundraising events there is also a serious side to the week, the campaign on transplants. This area forms a major part of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust's work this year. With improved treatments, better understanding of cystic fibrosis and continued research, people with cystic fibrosis are living longer than ever before, and often with a better quality of life. There has never been a more positive time. However, sadly, people with cystic fibrosis will still succumb to the effects of the condition, which does the most damage to the lungs. It is still the case that the biggest cause of death in people with cystic fibrosis is due to lung failure.

For some the only course of treatment is to receive a transplant, but once accepted on to the transplant list the wait can be as long as 412 days, or 3 years.

For 1 in 3 that call never comes.

Too many people are waiting too long for transplant, there are still issues with a lack of available lungs and a lack of facilities to successfully retrieve lungs.

This is a hard reality to face, but the devastation for families who lose a loved one to cystic fibrosis is mine and our driver for change. People who need a lung transplant with cystic fibrosis are usually under 40 years old. For younger people the possibility of many more years of life after a successful transplant gives hope to them and their families. People waiting for a transplant should be able to receive one. That is why we are starting CF Week this year with a strong message. We want the policy makers, transplant and clinical community to join us in a consultation to find a solution to the problem of people with cystic fibrosis not getting the lungs they need.

The Trust will be highlighting to the media the cases of people with CF who have agreed to share their experiences of being on the waiting list.

Log on to www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/cfweek and find out more about the issues around transplant, join in with our consultation, we want to hear your views.

Have a good CF Week.

Ed.

The European Cystic Fibrosis Society Conference: Day 3 session on NTM

Janet Allen, Cystic Fibrosis Trust Director of Research, attends a special session exploring the NTM bug, and discovers how organisations across the world can come together to fight for a common cause.

A whole session at ECFS was dedicated to a discussion on NTM, the bug that is causing some physicians concerns. The Cystic Fibrosis Trust has set up a working group to look at our cross-infection guidelines.

Meanwhile, a partnership between ECFS and CFF has been working hard to develop a series of guidelines on how to identify that someone has NTM, how to find out exactly which bug is responsible (as NTM represents a number of subtypes) and importantly, recommendations on which antibiotics should be used to treat it.

This working party is led by cystic fibrosis physicians in the UK and is a wonderful example of how the different CF organisations can come together across all of Europe and the USA to create a unified set of guidelines on diagnosis and treatment.

The European Cystic Fibrosis Society Conference: Day 2

Director of Research Janet Allen gets an update on trials of a new drug for treating people with cystic fibrosis who have the F508del mutation, and then attends a mini symposium on ivacaftor (Kalydeco).

At the ECFS today, the most recent results for a new drug with the potential to influence the function of F508del were presented. Lumacaftor (VX809) is being developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals to restore CFTR function to people with cystic fibrosis who have F508del. The early Phase 2 results were shown last October and based on these results, Vertex announced the launch of a Phase 3 study of lumacaftor in combination with ivacaftor (Kalydeco).

This Phase 3 trial will study two different doses of lumacaftor, 600mg once a day compared to 400mg twice a day. Both doses will be given in combination with ivacaftor (Kalydeco). A number of cystic fibrosis clinics in the UK are participating in this trial, which is recruiting people who have two copies of the F508del mutation. At the presentation today, results clearly demonstrated that both doses of lumacaftor in combination with ivacaftor had positive effects on FEV1 (increase ~8%) in the Phase 2 trial. It was also announced that the first patient had started the Phase 3 trial.

At a later session, this evening I attended a mini-symposium on ivacaftor to review the experience of physicians who have been prescribing Kalydeco for people with G551D.

ECFS Conference, Day 3 Influence in Europe

Ed Owen, CEO at Cystic Fibrosis Trust reports on day 3 of the EU Cystic Fibrosis confernece.

Improving and transforming the lives of people with cystic fibrosis is our mission and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust has been hard at work in Lisbon at the European Cystic Fibrosis Society (ECFS) conference on ways to help achieve it.
Elaine Gunn, our Registry manager, has been working closely with international colleagues here on developing an effective data registry for Europe to help drive research and clinical treatments.
And Janet Allen and I have been meeting researchers, international partners like the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) and industry representatives to develop support for new initiatives to drive innovative science and improve treatment regimes for people with cystic fibrosis.

Janet, who as our Director of Research has built a strong global reputation after just nine months in the job, took delegates through our new research strategy at a specially convened event at the conference. She explained to an assembled group of clinicians, scientists and pharmaceutical companies our desire to collaborate on joint projects to boost the overall research effort in cystic fibrosis.

The strategy has been very well received and Janet, together with Professor Stuart Elborn, ECFS President and one of our trustees, explained how our new funding arrangements would work and how we wanted to ensure Trust funds were used to ’leverage‘ resources from others.

Later at the same meeting, I was joined by Dr Diana Bilton, the lead consultant at the adult centre at the Royal Brompton Hospital, to talk to UK consultants about issues relating to clinical care, including the Quality Improvement Programme to raise standards of cystic fibrosis care within the NHS.

Tomorrow, Nick Medhurst, who heads our public affairs activities, will be helping to enhance our relationships with fellow European cystic fibrosis patient organisations so we can learn from each others' experiences and enhance our ability to secure EU funding for research.

One of the important strengths of the Trust is our ability to work with many different partners to improve the lives of people with cystic fibrosis. Collaboration in so many forms is helping to deliver our mission.

Ed