GOL shoot 8 - Laura and Ken

Laura and I struck up a friendship a few months ago after she read my blog. Laura was working up towards her transplant - which she received from her Dad - Ken, and I had just had mine. Laura's transplant went ahead in January of this year and was a success. From then we emailed each other regularly swopping experiences and asking for advice. Very handy stuff.

Laura also lives in Swindon so the very kind Linda dropped me off at her parent's house at which I was presented by lots of lovely cats and beautiful art! Ken is an artist and paints incredible paintings which I loved. You can view his work here.

Laura suffered from an auto immune disease which attacked her kidneys. After 4 months on PD (quite enough for anyone!) Ken was able to donate his kidney to her.

Ken's studio was an excellent setting for the photographs, but I also took a few in the garden and in the living room below a painting by Ken - the naked Beatles. Very cool.

It was fab to meet Laura after all this time and we hit it off really well. It's unusual to meet someone around the same age as me who has had a transplant so it's always good to chat about things from a 'twenty something' point of view. We seemed to be of a very similar mind when it came to transplants - we both just want to live as normal life as possible and not be just labeled a 'transplant patient'.

Laura's lovely Mum cooked us all pizza and chips (not forgetting chcolate ice cream) and Laura's husband, Simon, came along to say hello. All in all a very enjoyable shoot. I hope Laura and I see each other again soon.