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Made in Chelsea Sam Vanderpump's Story Season 1 Episode 2
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00:03My name is Sam Vanderpump and I'm on a TV show called Made in Chelsea.
00:08Thank you all for coming. I thought I'd just say a few words.
00:12What you may not know is I was born with liver disease.
00:16For 28 years I never let it slow me down. Racing, skiing and living life flat out.
00:24But in 2024 everything changed. I've got end stage liver disease.
00:31There is no hope of my liver getting better. Due to my disease I contracted sepsis and nearly died.
00:39And now the doctors say I need a liver transplant.
00:43Not talking about if you will need a transplant, we're talking about when you will need a transplant.
00:48Mr and Mrs Vanderpump. I've just got married and I'm expecting
00:53a baby. Duke!
00:56I've had an absolutely fantastic life but in this situation the odds are the same for everyone.
01:11The best organ that you can ever have is a live donor organ.
01:16I don't want to do that.
01:18When my mum offered to donate her liver, I was literally like, no.
01:24For me, that's all I want to do is help my son.
01:27So do you know what blood types you are?
01:29Oh, negative I think.
01:32Yeah, same.
01:32You'd be a match for a live donation, technically.
01:35I'll definitely get it tested.
01:38It makes me feel sick. I don't want to put my friends or family through a liver surgery as well.
01:44I mean, could you imagine I go in for a liver transplant, I wake up and my friends died or
01:50my
01:50family members died on the table. I don't think I could live with that.
01:54You guys don't do it by half, do you? It's quite extraordinary.
01:57Yeah, I know.
01:58What do you do?
01:58Oh, let's have a liver transplant, let's have a baby. It's exhausting.
02:11I'm really excited. I'm surprised it actually compacts this small.
02:14It's the whole point, isn't it? It's meant to be a really good fold-out fran.
02:18In the build-up to Duke being born, there was a hell of a lot going on.
02:22The fact I was learning all about my medical condition, which was information overload at the
02:26time. We don't have very long now. So we're looking at dates now and the 14th due date.
02:32So we were trying to book in the C-section as close to the due date as possible. Could be
02:36as
02:36soon as next week. A little bit more time than that, but it's about dates because that hospital's
02:43very busy. The reason why I ended up opting for a C-section is because I've had pre-existing
02:49conditions with my bladder and my kidneys. They wouldn't let me go over my due date.
02:53You want your baby facing you.
02:55Yeah, I know, but I'm just looking at which way I put the attachments in, darling.
02:58Everyone's going to be thinking, why am I doing this without reading the instructions?
03:01And I'm going to say, I don't...
03:05Don't need them. That's what I'm going to say.
03:07Watch this. Okay. Here we go. Now I know how to use it.
03:14No, no, no. That was starting again.
03:16In you go, Duke, Bonnie. Great.
03:19Bonnie, Duke is very happy. Hasn't cried once, so...
03:26I think there was so much going on last year. So much to navigate. I didn't know how to feel,
03:31or what to feel, or when to feel it. The actual transplant felt like it was the biggest thing
03:36in life and the biggest focus, whereas now I feel like focus is shifting back to normal routine a
03:44little bit more, or baby. Have you thought any more about, like, live donor?
03:50No. It was important for me to keep live donation in the conversation, because Sam would probably
03:55have to get more sick before he can have a liver, which is a fine line between that and becoming
04:01too
04:01sick. So I think those were the most pressing things for me that thought, right, he needs to look at
04:06this option. I have people that are coming to me that are interested in exploring that,
04:11and I don't know what to tell them because you seem, like, closed off to the idea that,
04:16and I need to know if it's something that you'd be willing to do. So it's not, like,
04:20I don't want to go against your wishes. I've got enough going on in my head with this,
04:25as it is, and I don't want to have to...
04:31Why do I have to suddenly worry about other people in this situation? If someone really
04:36wants to go donate an organ, why do I have to give you permission? I should just be focused on
04:42my journey. Whatever happens around outside, it shouldn't involve me.
04:47Mm. If that's how you feel, and I'm glad you've said that now, I can now make my own
04:53decision on what I say to people, and if they want to explore it, they can.
04:58Having that conversation with him then, that's clarified a lot for me. I think it's a lot of
05:02pressure for him, and that's why he shuts these conversations down, because he doesn't feel like
05:06he should be responsible for other people's choices, and that is what's putting pressure on.
05:11Now I know that, I'm going to explore, obviously not with Sam knowing, because the permission
05:17part of it puts pressure then on him. I can't help think, yeah, he's okay now. What if in
05:24six months, suddenly he's got a really bad infection? He's not okay, and there's not much
05:30to be done about that, and I have to worry about the fact that we've got a baby, the fact
05:35that he's
05:36going downhill, knowing that we could have explored that route and that option, that he could have
05:42had a transplant already. Oh, it's just scary.
05:53Welcome to baby shower number two.
05:58Bye, Brummel.
06:00I'm a pregnant person.
06:02Hello.
06:03We're going to be parents, and that trumps everything, right? That becomes your priority.
06:08Baby Jukie.
06:09How cute is that?
06:11Yeah.
06:12I'm just very excited for the birth of my child.
06:14Do you like this?
06:15Oh, my God, and you put it on their head, didn't it?
06:19It also gives me even more strength. I've got a wife and a baby I need to provide for, so.
06:24Me. I love this. I love dungarees. Apparently, it's weird if I wear dungarees.
06:39It's never been a doubt in my head that I would be the one to give Sam the liver.
06:49I called the live donation coordinator, and I said to her, I want to be tested. She went away
06:56and spoke to the surgeon, and they said, no, you're 55, you're too old. And that was it. Sam
07:01didn't want to discuss it, and it was shut down. I know I don't say to Sam, but that doesn't
07:07work
07:07with Sam. I know what I'm going to do. If we can get a live donor, it's more controllable.
07:16You know, they've said no to me because of me being over the age limit. When we're with
07:24the consultant next, could we just ask if we could have a second opinion? Give me every
07:31single test going. This is something that's never been a doubt in my mind that I would be the person
07:41to donate. And I think when Duke comes, you'll even understand that even more.
07:46I mean, the biggest thing that made me think about it was Alice sort of turned around to me
07:50in bed. She started crying and said, you know, I don't want you to get ill.
07:56I'm terrified you won't, you know, be there for Duke. I can't do this alone kind of thing.
08:00Like I said, I don't, I wasn't even gonna
08:06ever talk about this option. I didn't want to talk about this option.
08:12Because I'm obviously terrified. Not, I'm terrified for myself, obviously, but I'm terrified,
08:17I don't, then I've got to be terrified for you. Not doing it is not an option for me,
08:21and I want to fight to do it. I feel so, so, so strongly about this that they can't just
08:28say no.
08:29They need to, we need, we need to fight. Because we know it's your best option.
08:48I don't think there was ever a specific decision to share Sam's news. Living your life when you're
08:56on like a TV show, what we're dealing with in our real life is on Made in Chelsea. I don't
09:02think Sam
09:03realised how much people would take notice of it. And then everything came out and it's like,
09:08bang, the world kind of found out and it was a bit of a shock.
09:13Today we are joined by a maiden Chelsea's finest, Sam and Alice Vanderbilt.
09:17But I think Sam found strength in realising that sharing that information helped people.
09:23So at four, I was diagnosed with congenital hepatic fibrosis. It's hearing the statistics
09:29which make me sad. We know due to the circumstances that less than 1% of deaths are viable for
09:36organ
09:37donation. But when we come to it, under 50% of that 1% are actually being donated just because
09:45their
09:46families didn't know their wishes. And 9 out of 10 families agree to organ donation when they know
09:52the wishes of their loved ones. If we can just make people aware of that and get everyone to confirm
09:59their decision that they believe in, then we would save an unbelievable amount of lives.
10:04People agreed to it through polling. Let's get them all signed up.
10:08Just by speaking on this topic, even one more organ gets donated and even one person's life is saved.
10:17then surely it's worth it, right? They actually put me on the list as of last month. So I'm now
10:24active.
10:25I could get a phone call at any moment saying, we've got a liver for you.
10:30I'm so sorry.
10:32Oh, you know what? And that's literally why I have to have my phone on loud.
10:37I'm going to set this hard fire. I'm going to reach it in higher.
10:45You put a normal croissant in for me.
10:47I'm a bit indecisive about what to actually have. Maybe I have brown flakes.
10:52Oh, God. I don't understand. I hate those healthy cereal.
10:55I love healthy cereal.
10:57But then I coat it in sugar, so it's probably not that healthy.
11:01So what are you actually doing today?
11:03I'm driving down to see the worms. You obviously know about my friend and his parents who donated his organs.
11:15At the time, I really didn't know much about the organ donation.
11:19Three years ago, a good friend of ours had a brain aneurysm and unfortunately didn't make it.
11:26And ever since then, I've been speaking to his parents so much.
11:31It's nice to see the sort of family that has affected and even more so because it's a friend of
11:37mine.
11:37I know I play with fire.
11:43Morning, son.
11:45Hello. How are you?
11:47I'm good, thank you, Sam.
11:49I love Daniel's favourite colour is orange and the fact that you guys wear orange and
11:54there's orange all around the house.
11:56Yeah, keep the memories alive.
11:57The most amazing thing to come out of it was he'd actually had a conversation a few months earlier
12:03with his parents saying, if he passed away, why would he not give his organs if they could help someone
12:10else?
12:11When was the actual first time that Daniel mentioned donation?
12:14One of Daniel's close friends suddenly passed away. One of the things I did mention to him was organ
12:22donation and he said, well, if anything happened to me, I could help others.
12:28Which is something I talk about so much at the moment. We're trying to raise awareness around the organ
12:32donation topic is obviously about people just having these conversations.
12:36Yeah. And we straight away literally turned around and said, OK, so how do we go about
12:42making sure that his life lives on in someone else, i.e. donation?
12:49You know, the specialist even said to me, I can't believe you talking like this.
12:53Daniel was always the kindest. So it just felt so fitting. His organs were donated and he saved
13:00multiple lives.
13:01It's hard. But at the same time, it's incredibly comforting that we know Daniel's heart is beating.
13:08But someone's had a second shot. And I think it's important to talk about it. People talk, talk, talk,
13:15because I just think it is such an important thing. You know, if you can go on to save somebody,
13:21this is the most basic, basic form of humanity as far as I'm concerned, you know, to be able to
13:27give
13:27someone the gift of life. It's a horrible subject, but it is so amazing that some good's come out of
13:36it.
13:36The moment they knew he was brain dead within minutes, they said, what about his organs?
13:41It's a story they haven't told a lot of our friendship group. So for them to share it with us
13:46is so amazing. And I'm so thankful for that.
13:55Sam is at a point where he just doesn't want to know in regards to live donations.
14:03I now feel comfortable having those conversations, but not have those conversations with Sam,
14:08whereas I feel like before I was seeking permission from Sam. I think I would kick myself in the future
14:12if I didn't explore them and something bad happened.
14:17Hi, sweetie. Hello. How are you? I'm good. How are you?
14:21Oh, so good. How is Sam? He's all right. He just gets a bit overwhelmed talking about live donations.
14:27Like he feels like it's a burden. How does he feel about his mum doing it?
14:32The same thing. Because that's really difficult because him and Sam are so close.
14:35They're so close. And also he doesn't have a dad. And so that's where it's hard as well,
14:41because that's his last pairing. I think we're at a level now where it's going to be explored.
14:46He's just not comfortable being heavily involved in that, you know, because he feels like he's putting
14:51pressure on people in his life. Like he doesn't want you, for example, to feel any pressure to go and
14:56get
14:56a test because you just have the same blood type. I did actually contact the data center.
15:01You did? Yeah. You've done it.
15:03I've already spoken the word number one. Are you joking?
15:05No, I'm not joking. Because I think if I don't do this, what is prognosis for Sam if he has
15:10to wait for
15:10somebody to die? There is a slight difference with this. Something that's happened in our lives
15:15is someone's been incredibly altruistic and held two of our babies. We had a couple of surrogates
15:19and that's been something that's opened your mind quite a lot as well. But also there was
15:242024, 2025, 463 people over the way till the list died. If I don't do this, if I don't go
15:29and get
15:30checked, if I don't know whether that is an option for if we're faced with that situation,
15:33I couldn't live with that. Does Sam know you're talking to us about this now?
15:38I think he has an idea. He knows conversations are going to happen. I love you guys. We're so close.
15:45And yet I feel uncomfortable having a conversation about it too.
15:48Say everything's all going well, I'll end up with a scar and take six weeks of my liver to go
15:52back to 90%
15:53of the volume of it was four. And I can go back to normal. Ideally, there's a deceased liver come
15:59along. And that is the ideal thing. But if shit hits the van, I think it is an insurance policy
16:05that
16:05if there's a point where he might not make it, there's someone here that can help. I'm in utter
16:11shock, to be honest. I'm happy. Obviously, I'm like over the moon, like just to see that Sam has people
16:16in
16:16his life, that aren't like blood related, that care about him that much, that have kids, twins,
16:24under like of the age of two, to consider something like this to be there for Sam if
16:29something goes wrong, like it's amazing.
16:34So medications wise, any changes? No. Dr Joshi is my lead heptologist. So I'm under the King's
16:40College advanced liver disease team. And I've seen Dr Joshi since I was about 15.
16:46Your liver blood tests are actually very good. But when we look at your scans, and we look at
16:51everything else, we know there is evidence of advanced liver disease. I appreciate you feel
16:56good. And I like I said, that's the most important thing because you need to carry on doing, you know,
17:00what you need to do in your life. I am approaching a cliff. We don't want you to get to
17:05that cliff,
17:05because at the top of the cliff, people fall down. We are interested in learning more about
17:12live donation. Yes. Because at first, I was of the opinion, it's my liver disease,
17:16why would I want someone else to go for a risky surgery, you know, other than me, and I can
17:22wait
17:22for a deceased liver. And many people have made it clear to me that that could be a very silly
17:27course
17:27of action, because I could wait to be waiting to get ill, where on this route, you can be proactive.
17:33Obviously, I've known that I would be this person. Yeah. And I just think I'm only just 56.
17:39Yeah. Never drunk. You know, never done drugs. Any illnesses? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
17:46I knew this was my opportunity to see Dr Joshi face to face, get him to actually look at me
17:53and say, look, I know you're saying I'm too old, please consider me. You know, I train every single
18:00day. I have a healthy diet. Yeah. I just think, can I just be tested? Let's just do the physical,
18:08mental, all of those tests. Yeah, yeah. And then, if you then say, look, no, then I've,
18:15okay, I'll have to accept that. But I just want to at least look at me physically and mentally
18:21before we say no. That's all I'm asking. Okay. What do you think about that, Sam,
18:25if mum was to donate? I said, we'll look into it. We'll have the conversation. If they say no,
18:30whether that answers our question anyway. I suppose you just want to admit halfway,
18:34let's go down the living donation sort of aspect. It doesn't change anything else in the meantime,
18:40and it just sort of runs in parallel. I don't know if in words I can explain how I felt.
18:47It was, I suppose, relief that I'd been listened to. I feel okay speaking about live donation
18:56with Dr Joshi, because at this stage, it really is just a conversation. I've got to remember,
19:02it's not just me that this affects. It affects everyone, but I'm still terrified. No matter how
19:10small that risk is, you know, it's still a big thing that my mum would have to undergo. Once we've
19:16got all the information we can, then we'll make our informed decision. I mean, look, we might even get to
19:21a point where they just say completely no to my mum. Then we're back to just on the waiting list
19:25anyway.
19:42So nice to see you.
19:43Hello, Sam. Hello, Sam. Oh my goodness. I'm so excited to tell you all about things you need
19:50to know. Happy baby. Sam, natural dad. He has natural dad energy.
19:56Everyone keeps saying to me, you're not prepared, you have no idea what you're getting in for,
20:01but I've read three books. I haven't finished the three books. I'm halfway through each one.
20:06I'm going to start with nappy changing. Okay. Mr. I know how to do it. It's a very different vibe
20:14when Duke will be moving around a lot more squirmy than this one.
20:18Mama Duke. Mama Duke Marcus Vanderpump. Those names really have a special meaning to me. You know,
20:26Mama Duke was the name my dad wants to name my brother. My mum detested the name and hence my
20:32brother was named Jack Daniels Vanderpump. And then Marcus especially as well. Obviously,
20:37my dad's name was Mark. And Alice agreed to it because she could call him Duke for short.
20:44Roll over and tuck. Absolutely swaddled.
20:52Hello. Oh no, you're great. How are you? How do you look like I look after lunch?
20:59It really means a lot to me that my aunt's flown all this way for the birth of Duke. It's
21:04such a long
21:05way for her to come, but family is everything. So everything's good. Any updates on you? It
21:10seems very, very likely that I will become ill. Then I will be escalated up the transplant list,
21:15which will mean I will get the transplant sooner. But obviously, we don't want me to become ill.
21:19Isn't there this fine line? That's what worries me. Because when you were ill last time,
21:24you were literally very quickly on death's door, weren't you? Yeah.
21:31Are they saying it's imminent or not? To a certain degree, yeah.
21:35Like, they're surprised he's as well as he is with the state of it currently.
21:38I mean, he looks a picture of health as well. That's what I struggle with.
21:43How do you feel about live donation? I mean, when I first embarked on this journey,
21:49I only wanted to go down the waiting list route and I wasn't going to accept live donation.
21:54But at the same time, there were certain moments where my mind started to change. It was having a
22:00conversation with Alice one night and, you know, Alice kind of broke down to me and said,
22:04I hadn't thought about it too much. But in that moment, like in that conversation,
22:09it made me really sad because I thought I don't want any regret thinking there could have been
22:13an opportunity. And if something ever was to go wrong, we missed an opportunity to do something,
22:20you know? So it's a lot to ask. And I haven't asked anyone.
22:23Your mum is very, like... Mum is very passionate.
22:26She would like to be the person. She would be, yeah.
22:27I don't think she would want to feel as a mother that she,
22:31you know, isn't being taken seriously. Because I think that's, you would feel like that when you
22:36have your child. I mean, look, these are all things we're exploring. For now, for the next few
22:41days, it's getting through the birth of Duke. I will do whatever you want, within reason.
22:49But I will be up or call me in the middle of the night or whatever. If anything happens before,
22:54just call me because I don't want to miss it.
23:02Ow.
23:05The morning Duke was scheduled in for his C-section, I was actually already in labour.
23:10They were getting stronger. You need to be telling me when they're starting and stopping.
23:14Now. I've been timing between each contraction. I realised it was getting very,
23:18very close together. Okay. Not great. Because Alice was going into labour,
23:27all of a sudden, it wasn't going to be planned and smooth sailing. It does make things a little
23:31bit more stressful. I'm having another one, actually, Sam. The speed of it at that point
23:35is what made me nervous, and I think Sam could see the fear on my face. That's less than five
23:41minutes.
23:43Let's go.
24:05How are you feeling? I feel like I'm in a dream right now. Do you want one to do with
24:13you?
24:13Look at this. Is it like you thought? It's better. I don't think you can get into words
24:21what it feels like until it happens. I'm so glad. I'm here. I'm part of it. I love you, baby.
24:30Mummy, anything you want to say? I love you.
24:36When Duke was born, it was incredible. All we heard was this tiny little cry. It brought
24:42both Alice and I to tears. That is the best noise in the world. And I just heard this
24:50noise and all of the panic and all of the busyness of the room just stops. And Sam and I
24:56just looked
24:56at each other. And then the curtain came down. He had a very loud cry. I remember thinking that.
25:01I remember thinking, wow, he's loud like his dad. Oh, my gosh.
25:06Everyone talks about this overwhelming sense of joy, pride that you will have. I didn't believe them
25:12until it actually happened. Sam was able to cut the umbilical cord, put his first nappy on,
25:17and then he was brought over and placed on my chest. And Sam and I both had our hands on
25:22him. It was
25:24a lot. Look how comfy he looks on Sam. Oh. Oh, bless him.
25:32So comfy now. So comfy now. When I first saw Duke, he wasn't actually about Duke. He was actually about,
25:40I actually just watched Sam. To see your son have his own son, it was just, for me, it was
25:46just Sam.
25:48Yeah. Sam, I think, for the first time ever, seemed at a loss for words.
25:56This is perfect. That baby's just so beautiful. I'm so happy for them. He's absolutely beautiful.
26:03Yeah, stunning. You're a nanny. Best job in the world. Not a nanny. Momo.
26:09And it's night time where you are. I see your face, I see the sky.
26:18Baby, my transference. Do you look so tiny?
26:23He's fast asleep. She learns it for a little bit.
26:26Oh, my gosh. He's just a sleeping angel.
26:30I can't believe he's actually in this room. Oh, I'm going to cry.
26:35It's all a bit overwhelming.
26:43Crazy. Absolutely crazy.
26:46Coming home for the first time, it's magical, but it's actually terrifying.
26:52You're on your own now. This is just you, Alice and Duke. You've got to fend for yourselves.
26:58It's scary.
27:01Okay, no.
27:12I know. I know. I know. I know. I'm tired. It's amazing. It's amazing, but I'm tired.
27:21Sam doesn't function on little sleep, and you take a lot of sleep away from him,
27:25and he still loves you more than anything in the world.
27:33Is that a hint for mummy to change your nappy?
27:36Look at that face.
27:37He's definitely straining for something a bit larger than a body burp, I think.
27:53I phoned the live donation coordinator again, said, look, we've seen Dr Joshi saying I should
28:01be tested if I can donate. She came back to me and said they've agreed to test me.
28:08The concern is the size. You have to give 70% of your liver.
28:14Is that 70% going to be enough for Sam? And is 30% big enough for me to live?
28:22Yeah, I just want them to say yes.
28:26I'm very, very, very happy that they're testing me.
28:30It's just a no-brainer. It's what I've wanted since Sam was four.
28:40Stand still, relax, don't talk. If you wish to stop the measurement, press the red key.
28:46OK, Simone, just breathe in now. OK, all finished there.
28:50Looking at the fibro scan result, your liver is very soft and there is no fat on your liver.
28:56So that's good.
28:57It's very good.
28:57Would you want more time to kind of think about it?
29:00No. It's if you say no, that's more what I'm concerned about.
29:07That's a lot of blood going.
29:10I want you to know that it's not all on you, OK?
29:12Just because, as I've said, since he was four, I always thought it would be me.
29:18Yeah.
29:18And I want it to be... I don't want it to be anyone else.
29:20Do you know...? I hear you.
29:25And relax.
29:26From my point of view, the liver looks good, so I'll pop that all in the report.
29:30OK, so do you reckon that's enough for me and Sam, my son?
29:33From my point of view, I didn't see anything abnormal, it's not small, it's not fatty.
29:38Brilliant. That's very good.
29:40Everything on the surface at the moment seems extremely positive.
29:44Hopefully, within 24 hours, they will make the decision just with the liver if it is big enough.
29:51All right, thank you so, so much.
29:53All the best with everything.
29:54If they say the liver isn't big enough, that's it.
29:56There's nothing more I don't think I can do.
30:09I can't... Oh, my God, I'm so tired.
30:13He makes us tired.
30:17Duke makes us tired.
30:19I feel like I've regressed to the same mental capacity as Duke because I'm so tired.
30:26Duke last night just wouldn't settle.
30:31Yeah, we're definitely feeling the tiredness today.
30:36Are you waking up?
30:39Making your presence known?
30:43Life's just taken over.
30:45You know, we've been focusing on Duke's birth.
30:48Now he's here just in the moment, in the bubble.
30:54I am terrified.
30:56I think that fear does become a lot more real now Duke's here because, yeah, you're terrified that,
31:05I don't know, there's someone else who relies on you and you're just terrified that, yeah, well,
31:10that you're not going to be here for them.
31:13And, you know, that's why I all of a sudden changed my mind around live donation.
31:20Right now, my road is just focusing on keeping healthy today and doing everything to support the family.
31:30Anyway, get mum.
31:35Hi.
31:37Hungry.
31:39He's a hungry monkey.
31:43Did you keep mummy and daddy up last night?
31:46All night?
31:47Yeah.
31:51But you've been sleeping well today, haven't you?
31:54Yeah, because he's going to be up tonight.
31:56I can't believe how three people wear so many clothes in a space of...
32:01It's not us, it's just one.
32:03Yeah, I was here on Monday.
32:04And then he throws off one every day.
32:06Monday.
32:07He's sick.
32:07I mean, are we real?
32:10How does it happen?
32:20We're waiting now to see if we can go forward, if my liver is an acceptable size.
32:29She will literally phone and go, no, or yes.
32:34Yeah.
32:35And you know when you just want something so badly.
32:38So, so badly.
32:48Yes, it's the hospital.
32:50Hello?
32:52Hi, Simone, it's Matilda.
32:53Hi, Matilda.
32:54How are you?
32:55Not too bad.
32:55How are you doing?
32:56Yeah, I'm absolutely fine.
32:58Okay, it's now an okay time to talk.
33:00Yeah, sure.
33:01From a liver perspective, there's no issues, but he has meant, he has said that in order
33:08to really kind of understand whether you've got enough volume, we're going to need a CT scan.
33:14Okay.
33:14And he can't make that decision without that, he's happy to proceed with that.
33:19But I think we can't make a definite call on that.
33:22No, but that's still, it's still positive, isn't it?
33:25Still hopeful, yeah, yeah.
33:26So, the liver looks good, it's just the volume we need to look at.
33:30We need to know that you are giving Sam enough liver, but also being left with enough for yourself.
33:39Yeah, I mean, I know it's not 100%, but I still think we're ticking the boxes at the moment.
33:46Yeah, yeah.
33:47When I got the phone call from Matilda, the good news was my liver was a normal size,
33:53so that meant we could go on to the next stage.
33:56Okay, all right, take care.
33:58Thank you so much, Matilda.
33:59Pleasure.
34:00Bye.
34:03That's brilliant.
34:05It's not a no, it's about, we've ticked a box.
34:12Yeah, yeah, it just ticked a box, we've ticked the next box.
34:18Oh my God, I've got to lie down, I can't, I can't think.
34:22Yeah, the relief, the joy, yeah, it was just incredible.
34:29It really, really was, it was, oh my God.
34:48I can't get over this, that is the cutest little thing I've ever seen in my life.
34:59Oh my God, my heart, I literally can't deal with that.
35:04I've been looking for someone like you.
35:13I'm extremely blessed.
35:14I have got the dream family.
35:17I've got a beautiful wife, a beautiful son, and not just limited to us three.
35:22Excellent.
35:22And that is a rat, as they say.
35:28Good job.
35:28Thank you, well done.
35:28You're such a good boy.
35:30I never got why my mum offered to donate her liver.
35:36But that's all changed very recently.
35:38The moment Duke's been born, I think I now get it.
35:56Mum just called us to say her anatomy basically doesn't marry up with being a viable donor for me.
36:04She was very, very upset.
36:07When I got the phone call, I wasn't expecting it.
36:10Literally, my phone went and immediately you know it's King's College because of the number.
36:14What she said wasn't anything what I was expecting.
36:17From the CT scan, what the surgeon could see was from my anatomy, my portal vein.
36:25Apparently, it's supposed to go into your right and your left lobes of your liver.
36:31Mine just goes into my right.
36:34Immediately, it writes me out of ever being a donor.
36:38I just put the phone down and just cried and cried and cried.
36:44It was, yeah, it was horrible news.
36:49Oh, guys, I'm so sorry.
36:52Seeing how excited your mum was about the possibility of it being something and like
36:57even exploring that idea felt like a safety blanket.
37:01And it's like the safety blanket's kind of gone.
37:04For me, like the live donation thing, I was like, at least it gives some control over like timing.
37:11And now it's like back to the drawing board of like, oh my God, we just have no idea when.
37:16The hospital have said to mum that apparently there's someone else.
37:20I do know if someone else is looking into, you know, getting tested.
37:24I don't know anything about how far that's gone.
37:27But I know Gareth was keen on, he had spoken to them about getting tested.
37:34Yeah, from their side.
37:35When I spoke to them about live donation, in no way was I being presumptuous.
37:41No, you'd never expect that.
37:43I was just, I was just talking openly with amongst friends.
37:46So, I mean, the fact that he's done that off his own back is pretty incredible.
37:52But there's a reason why I'm not meant to know these things, you know.
37:56You don't want that added pressure.
37:57And I think you can leave that as that now.
37:59You don't need to know any more inside knowledge on that.
38:03It's just, it's not necessarily a dead end just because it hasn't worked out with your mum.
38:11Another day, another day on the waiting list.
38:13What it's meant to be will be.
38:15And obviously this thing was not meant to be.
38:26Simone called Sam the other day.
38:29She was actually really quite upset.
38:31And it turns out that she isn't able to be a live donor for Sam.
38:35I've never seen, like, a mother love their child as much as she loves her sons.
38:39Oh my gosh.
38:40It's ridiculous.
38:41She is like the most giving, best mum I've ever seen.
38:43She was not scared of this operation at all.
38:46To then, that's all been taken away from you.
38:49In like, a second.
38:50I sat there with him and I went, Sam, are you sure you're okay?
38:53Have you actually processed this information?
38:57And he was like, it's not really changed anything for me.
39:00Because part of me feels like I still don't need to have a transplant.
39:04And I was like, but we know for a fact that you do need to have a transplant from your
39:08scans.
39:09Sam, at the moment, feels almost invincible.
39:12There's a fine line between a positive attitude and denial.
39:16Simone was told as well that there's actually only a 20% of chance that someone will be a match.
39:22Unfortunately, not that likely.
39:24Well, look, I'm a relatively similar size height to Sam.
39:28Yeah.
39:29Um, he's a bit spinnier than me, but he has got, he's a bit younger.
39:32So it's one in five chance, isn't it?
39:34It's from an altruistic place.
39:36It's one of those things you kind of just like think you want to help your friend out at this
39:39stage.
39:40Yeah.
39:40Do you get what I mean?
39:41You have been a big part of seeing this journey unfold, as has Ollie from the beginning.
39:45Yeah.
39:45We really do love Sam and like, at least you just got to get the options on the table.
39:51For sure.
39:52You can't help, but want to look after Sam, like a little brother.
39:57There's something quite sweet about him.
39:59I think it's hard for anyone that is close to Sam and cares for Sam.
40:03I can see it's hard for you, you know?
40:05Oh God, it's just, it's just literally like, you should be having a newborn is enough to worry about,
40:11let alone having to worry about all this stuff.
40:14Oh, bless.
40:15It's literally like, oh God, anyway.
40:18I just don't feel like there is anything to update Sam on at this point.
40:22You know, I don't want to give him anything more to worry about, stress over.
40:27It's really a case of not knowing where things could go.
40:30And I don't think he, he really needs that.
40:33We now know Simone can't do it.
40:35Someone from the team is obviously inevitably going to reach out to Gareth.
40:40Yeah, and we'll just have to see what happens from now.
40:50So how are you feeling about everything?
40:53I'm okay today.
40:56Wasn't very good on Friday.
40:58Because obviously I was quite, really thought it was going to be okay.
41:03And I mean, obviously the reason I'm not going to be able to donate isn't actually anything to do with
41:11my age,
41:11which we thought was the problem with the liver size.
41:14It's literally where my body is inside.
41:18I know it's hard for you to deal with, but I just feel like, yeah, it was never meant to
41:24be you.
41:24And if anything, it was like, okay, well, I had never processed that it was going to be you yet
41:30because we hadn't got to that stage yet.
41:32So being told it wasn't you was just like, okay, phew, you know, at least you don't have to go
41:37for a major surgery as well.
41:39And we don't have to have that debate.
41:42I guess I only got that for a few minutes or a few hours until obviously I'm now know that
41:47Jack's going to get himself tested.
41:50And now I have to worry about that. So my mum told me that now my brother's going to get
41:55tested.
41:56And so we start again with Jack and I'm just so proud of him. I'm just proud of them both.
42:03I was extremely overwhelmed when I found out my brother was going to get tested.
42:08Yeah, I just started crying.
42:10I don't know why. I haven't worked out why, what emotions I'm feeling.
42:18But it's challenging, to say the least.
42:25We'll be fine. We really will be.
42:27I have no doubt in that.
42:29It's a family. We'll all deal with it together.
42:38Hey, hon.
42:51Can someone give daddy some caviar, please?
42:57Before he mows.
42:59Did you already see me?
43:00I took common for caviar.
43:02Charlie.
43:03At the start of this journey, I thought I was going to go on a waiting list and wait for
43:07a deceased donor.
43:07That's all changed. There's not enough donors out there. If there is very little risk to anyone who was going
43:14to live donate,
43:15then it was kind of my duty to at least explore the idea.
43:20There is the person in me who talks about wanting to raise awareness to help others.
43:26Well, by me becoming off the waiting list, I'm actually freeing up another liver for someone else.
43:32And he makes these sounds in the night, and I get so scared. But then if he doesn't make the
43:36sounds, I get even more scared all the time.
43:39Is he OK?
43:40Yeah, he's just had a nappy change.
43:47What's that?
43:49What is that?
43:50He's licking the balloons, obviously.
43:53Well, it's a nappy cake. Happy birthday, Samuel.
43:56Happy birthday.
43:58I think he's hungry, darling.
44:00He's hungry.
44:00He's hungry.
44:01What?
44:02I'll get some milk.
44:03Yeah.
44:04Are you hungry, little monkey?
44:07You can't still be hungry, buddy.
44:09That's ridiculous.
44:16Grandson, you're one in a million.
44:18Jack, that means you're number two in a million.
44:22The future is bright and filled with possibilities.
44:26I'm a father.
44:27I'm a husband.
44:28I am healthy at the moment.
44:31I can't obsess over or think about things beyond my control.
44:36For an amazing son, there are so many reasons to celebrate on your birthday.
44:40And so many reasons to feel proud of you every day of the year.
44:43Happy birthday with love.
44:45Hope you have an amazing birthday, Sam.
44:47Tons of love.
44:48Mum.
44:49There is a roller coaster and a storm to come, but we will muster through it, as we always do.
44:56And that's it.
45:00That's it for now.
45:01My life has always been eventful.
45:04Twenty-eight has to take the cherry for now, but I plan to beat it in the future.
45:10You know, in the good and the bad.
45:12You know, I would like to minimise the bad and maximise the good, for sure.
45:16There's obviously hurdles along the way, but we'll just jump over them.
45:20This one's from Alice.
45:23OK.
45:23I guess there are goals.
45:25To be as good a father and partner as possible.
45:28They're shoes.
45:30Oh, wow.
45:31I like them.
45:34My other goal is for myself, is to get a liver transplant done.
45:37You know, if I had any control over it, I would say sooner rather than later, so I can get
45:42on the rest of my life.
45:43They're very nice.
45:44Yeah, I like them a lot.
45:45And then, obviously, my third goal, which is just raise as much awareness as possible.
45:51Thank you, everyone.
45:54I'm very, very lucky.
45:56You smile for grandma's photo.
45:59So, has it been a good birthday, Sam?
46:00It's been a different birthday.
46:02Yeah, it's been lovely.
46:03I know.
46:04Well, a year ago, you weren't even pregnant.
46:07Oh, yeah.
46:08You weren't even pregnant a year ago.
46:09Wow.
46:11How are things changing with you?
46:15Scary.
46:17I mean, this has got to be the best birthday present ever.
46:22Is that right?
46:26He's amazing.
46:48I mean, this has got to be the best birthday party.
46:54Last month.
46:54Oh–
47:00Okay.
47:02You know, exist within two days,
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