About us
Harefield Transplant Club was founded in 1982 by a small group of heart transplant patients, at the 5th British Transplant Games. Over time, the club began to welcome both heart and lung transplant patients, as well as pre-transplant patients.
We became a registered charity in 1996, known as Harefield Transplant Club – The Hamsters (charity no.1060656). Our affectionate nickname ‘The Hamsters’ was coined by our founding members, because immunosuppressive medication can sometimes make your cheeks look a little bit like a Hamster after transplant! We’ve kept this as our registered name in homage to our founders, but we often refer to ourselves as Harefield Transplant Club or the Club.
We use a membership-model to help fund our work. You can become a member and support our work even if you’re not a patient – take a look at our membership page for more details.
How we help
As a charity, Harefield Transplant Club exists to improve the quality of life for people at Harefield Hospital who are pre or post heart and/or lung transplant, and their support network (eg. family, friends, carers). Our hope is that all pre and post-transplant patients, and their families, feel supported at every stage of their transplant journey.
There are 3 ways we aim to achieve this:
- We maintain a community which provides emotional/wellbeing support. We help patients get their bearings, provide a forum where individuals with lived experience can come together, build social connections, seek support and celebrate milestones in their transplant journey (e.g through our Facebook page, annual celebration weekend, etc.)
- We organise and fund activities that support patient wellbeing, including physical wellbeing support and rehabilitation. We use our charitable funds to purchase hospital-based medical equipment that will improve patients’ lives (e.g. a mobile, infrared vein finder), fund recreational activities (e.g. Adrian’s music, a stocked in-patient care trolley) and organise or attend in-person events (e.g. attending national and international transplant games, our annual celebration weekend/AGM)
- We influence the future of patient-centred transplant services. We aim to provide a two-way channel communication between healthcare professionals at Harefield Hospital and transplant patients that will improve patient care now and in the future. For example, we co-organise seminars on topics that are important to our community, seek out and share advice from healthcare professionals on common issues experienced by transplant patients, and highlight opportunities for patient involvement in studies. (Please note this list is not exhaustive).
If you’d like to help us fund future projects and initiatives, please consider becoming a member, fundraising for us or making a donation.