Irish Times - from Eibhir Mulqueen

To read the article, click here:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2009/0714/1224250632461.html

Extracts:

A 10-day hike in the Burren organised by a French film company highlighted how organ donation can change the lives of sufferers of cystic fibrosisVINCENT GRÉGOIRE no longer takes the lift when he enters tall buildings. Two years after his transplant operation in Quebec, he now has a lung capacity of 103 per cent – 3 per cent more than normal for a person of his size and weight – and prefers to take the stairs.The 27-year-old jogs and cycles and generally celebrates his new life after suffering from the debilitating effects of cystic fibrosis for most of his life. “You never want to be lazy again,” he says. “You can use your lungs now so you do it.”
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As guests of a French film-making company, Magala Productions, the six, ranging in age from 17 to 47 years old, spent their time enjoying the Co Clare scenery while bonding with one another and relating their experiences to camera.

Director of the film project Frédéric Lebugle said he and his production team were surprised at their levels of fitness.

“We thought it was going to be very hard for these people walking and putting in a lot of effort. We said: ‘It will be really hard and we have to be careful not to walk too long in the mountains.’ But in fact it was very hard for the production team. We had to run all the time with the cameras and heavy equipment. We were very tired and they were better than us.”

The project is being supported by the French Gregory Lemarchal Association, which raises funds for research and building awareness of the hereditary disease. It is also being supported by the Greek-born, French film maker Costa-Gavras, whose films in English include the 1982 political thriller Missing.
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“It’s to raise awareness of how people can live if they have a transplant operation and how they can die if they don’t. It will explain it without showing hospitals,” adds Lafiteau.
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