Will's Plea



Will Chapman at Clovelly Beach. Picture: Anothony Reginato
Source: The Sunday Telegraph

20-year-old Ulladulla resident Will Chapman has already lost 21 kilos in just a few short months and desperately needs a double lung and heart transplant in the next few months to survive.

His case has touched so many of that celebrities including John Eales, Sally Fitzgibbons, Nathan Hindmarsh, Liz Ellis, Ada Nicodemou and Kirk Pengilly, have joined him in a YouTube plea for more people to become organ donors.

Born with a congenital heart condition, Will had a regular childhood until it all unraveled at age 16 when he began feeling short of breath and was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension.

Since Christmas, he's had to quit his job at a media communications company, give up his business degree at university, swallow cocktails of drugs and spend most days in hospital.

"Mentally, I'm positive," he said. "Physically, I have lost 80% of my dry weight, I'm always breathless. I can't walk for 30 metres without stopping to regain breath so I am constantly supplemented by oxygen. I spend 60% of my time in the hospital on the ward, and the remainder of the time on hospital grounds with my family."

With a double lung and heart transplant his only option, Will said he is concerned by Australia's poor organ donation rates being that only last year there was a bear minimum of only 337 organ donors in Australia - so for Chapman, although he hopes he gets his gift of life, it means someone else misses out

Some of the text from this page was from an article in the Daily Telegraph to read more go to: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/share-this-and-save-a-life-the-heartfelt-plea-for-organ-donations/story-e6freuy9-1226413294462