We were saddened by the tragic news that transplant recipient Chris Wills passed away in November 2009.

This is the story he told us in late 2008 about the wonderful gift of life he received in 2005.

Chris Wills's Story

Hello everyone. My name is Chris Wills. I am 40 years young and feel like the luckiest person in the world.

About 18 months ago I received a heart and lung transplant. This gift was given to me by the selfless donation from a beautiful anonymous family and the brilliant knowledge and expertise of our medical staff at The Prince Charles Hospital.

Before my transplant I was struggling a bit with everyday stuff. Good old Dr Bell eased me into the idea of taking this big step and assured me the time was right. I was unable to breathe properly and walking 50 metres made me breathless. I slept with my oxygen next to me and had a portable oxygen backpack for during the day and at work.

Without sounding too morbid, the average age for someone with cystic fibrosis is 28 years old. At the time of my transplant I was 38 years old. By this time most things that I used to do easily had become quite hard. For example, putting on my work boots was quite an effort, I would literally have to lie down and have some oxygen to get over that. I am sure many people around the mountain wondered why their pump repairman arrived in thongs!

In February 2005, I received a heart and lung transplant and had an incredibly good run with my recovery going very well. After a few months, miraculously walking, running, and working was easy! Mucus, oxygen, tiredness, coughing – GONE! UNBLOODYBELIEVABLE!!!

Everything was going so well that when I found out that an Australian Transplant Cricket side was to tour England to play versus the England Transplant Cricket side for a 2 test match and 3 one dayer series, I needed to find out more. Anyway, I made my enquiries and soon after, I was selected to tour England with the side in July 2006 to contest the David Hookes Memorial Shield. This was huge for me as I had always played cricket obsessively, well into my late twenties.

The tour was the trip of a lifetime and the series was a close one, we managed to give the poms a real scare but the Great Britain Transplant Cricket Team edged out the Aussies 2 -1 in the Test and one-day series. Both test matches ended in draws; however the Poms took the one-day series 2 – 1 to claim the trophy. Full match reports of the games can be found on the internet by searching under “Graham Marsh” and going to “Graham Marsh Transplant Sportsmen”.

The spirit in which the games were played was summed up with the following words:

“The series finished with a GB victory, but the overriding memories will be of camaraderie and friendship. Days get little better than this.”… Graham Marsh

The gift that I have been given, cannot be bought, cannot be traded and cannot be sold. It is usually given by a stranger, who has actually lost so much, to a person that they will probably never meet.

I have also been lucky enough to receive a second lung transplant in February 2008 after rejection of my first transplanted lungs. My first transplanted heart remains strong and is going like a steam train.

My future has never looked brighter, all because of the generosity of my donor and their family.

I hope that if you are considering becoming an organ donor, that you discuss it with your family and sign on to the national register, or that you can consider making a donation to The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation. Because the difference that you could make will be felt long after you have left us!