Double lung transplant recipient advocates for organ donations with dance [UPDATED VIDEO]
“I have named my lungs ‘gratitude,’ which is attitude with a little grr.” – Hélène Campbell
Photo CTV News
By Matthew Coutts, CTVNews.ca Staff
During her first public news confernce on Thursday, Helen Campbell stood up and showed her signature dance that she will use to advocate for organ donations.
Photo CTV News
Campell thanked the family who agreed to donate the lungs of a deceased loved one, and vowed not to stop advocating for organ donations now that she has recovered from her own surgery.
“I am not done now with this cause. In fact I have more energy now,” she said. “I have named my lungs ‘gratitude,’ which is attitude with a little grr.”
Campbell, 21, received a double-lung transplant on April 6 for a condition called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which was slowly shutting down her lungs. She has been in and out of hospital since then, as she continues to recover from the difficult surgery.
She chronicled her journey on a blog and through Twitter, received an endorsement from Justin Beiber and appeared on the Ellen Degeneres Show in a Skype interview.
On Wednesday, Campbell was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for her campaign to raise organ donation awareness.
According to CBC, the Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario credits Campbell with a recent spike in new organ donation registrations, jumping from 350 a week to 3,000.
Please listen to her inpiring and touching speech and watch her signature dance (4:57 in the video).
Source: Campbell dances again after double-lung transplant | CTV News and http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/good-news/double-lung-transplant-recipient-h%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne-campbell-dances-she-204029101.html
