Sam Jewell

Sam lives in Broughton Astley, Leicestershire. She is the incredibly grateful recipient of two life-saving kidney transplants that have positively transformed her life. In 2001 she was living in Dubai when she was first diagnosed with kidney failure due to an autoimmune disease. A year later she had her first transplant after her wonderful aunt was her living donor.

After waiting 1299 days on the UK transplant list, in May 2020 amidst Covid lockdown and transplantation suspension, Sam had her second kidney transplant. The change in her life was profound - like she’d won the lottery jackpot! Sam will be forever indebted to her donor’s family who found comfort in knowing their loved one not only saved Sam, but massively transformed her quality of life. She remains in regular contact with this wonderful family that found the strength and courage to support organ donation at such a difficult and challenging time of crisis in their lives. Organ donation has been an incredible gift of life for Sam and she is passionate about raising awareness of it.

Sam is a huge supporter of organ donation both professionally and personally as her way of ‘giving back’ for the amazing gift of life she has received She works as a Senior Advisor for NHS England within the Screening Quality Assurance Service. At a personal level, she has engaged in a range of voluntary organ donation promotional work, from written reflections shared in print, radio and social media to encourage others to donate. You may even see her shortly on a bus wrapping promoting organ donation that will travel through different bus routes throughout Leicestershire!

Please join Sam in the Race for Recipients 2023 to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation and encourage everyone you know to register their decision on organ donation. Thank you!