About

Why I wrote 'Will I still be me? A journey through a transplant'

Will I still be me? is the book I would have liked to have read when I realised that a transplant was the only option for me to save my life. How was I going to deal with it? How could I survive, emotionally as well as physically, such a huge onslaught to my body?

In the UK, each year about 7,000 people wait for a transplant, 2,500 receive one. The book is for all these people. The families of those who donate organs in order to give others a chance of life can take comfort from the story of the recipients.

The book is not only of interest to those directly affected by transplants. I have met a huge amount of interest and curiosity from many people and am regularly asked questions: 'What was it like?' 'How do you feel with someone else's organs inside you?' 'Do you feel like a different person?' and 'Do you know anything about your donor?'

Will I still be me? is aimed at all those people who are interested and curious, and for anyone affected by the huge process of adaptation required when facing life-threatening surgery. The book, told from a patient's perspective, is also aimed at health professionals working in the area, so that they can understand more deeply what their patients are going through in the journey through a transplant.

Diana Sanders is a Counselling Psychologist in Oxford who has published five previous books. In Will I still be me? we see a heart lung transplant and its aftermath through the eyes of a psychologist used to listening to other people's pain and vulnerability, and now having to face up to her own.

If you would like to contact Diana e-mail: diana@dianasanders.net

Give the gift of life. Join the NHS Organ Donor Register. Organ Donor Line 0845 60 60 400 http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/register

Right now more than 8,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant that could save or improve their life. But each year around 400 people die while waiting for a transplant.

If you want to help someone live after your death, sign up to the register now. Click here to find out more.