Northern Ireland liver transplant recipient 'honoured' to receive MBE from Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal

Chairman of the Royal Victoria Hospital Liver Support Group has received an MBE for services to people with liver disease and their carers from Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal.

Jim Kilpatrick from Donaghadee was honoured during a recent Investiture at Windsor Castle.

Accompanied by his wife, dad, daughter and brother, Jim said the ‘experience was like a fairytale’ and something he will ‘never forget’.

Following a liver transplant in 2018, Jim vowed to help other families and to thank the RVH Liver Support Group for their help when he was gravely ill.

He explained: “I was diagnosed with non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver in May 2017, just six weeks after taking early retirement. My condition deteriorated quite rapidly, to the extent that I received my liver transplant just 11 months later.

"While I was in the Royal Victoria Hospital in the weeks before the operation, I was visited by the founder of the RVH Liver Support Group, Mrs Kay Duffy OBE, who immediately provided comfort and reassurance to me.

"The Group is an independent charity supporting liver patients and their families across Northern Ireland, and was founded in 1998. It offers non-medical lived experience support, provided by patients, carers of patients and parents of children with a liver condition. All support is confidential, and provides much needed reassurance to all those suffering from a liver illness.

"At the time of my transplant and afterwards, the Group provided continuous support to my wife and daughter, especially while I was in theatre. I promised to do what I could to help them after I recovered.

"A few months later I was asked if I would join the committee as an adult patient carer, explaining to patients what liver disease is about, how it feels, and how it affects them and their families.

"The role also allows patients to confide their fears, and to ask questions. It is a role I relish, and knowing the difference it makes to patients, being able to talk to someone who has successfully been through what they're now facing, is extremely rewarding, but also humbling.

"In due course I also became the Group's Treasurer and also its Chairman - roles I believe have enabled me to change and focus the direction of the Group, as we look to become more efficient in our support of liver patients in Northern Ireland, and in educating the public about liver disease and the benefits of the organ donor register and organ donation.”

Outlining the moment he got the news about his MBE, Jim continued: “The letter from the Cabinet Office, advising of my nomination for an MBE, arrived in the post in mid-November. It doesn't often happen, but when I read the first couple of lines, stating my nomination, I was absolutely speechless.

"My wife wasn't much better when I handed her the letter to read. The previous month, I had been to Westminster, to represent the Group at the release of a report by the British Liver Trust into the state of liver cancer in the UK, and simply assumed this envelope stamped 'Cabinet Office' was a follow up 'customer satisfaction' survey on how I felt that event had gone. Never could I have been so wrong.

“Keeping all of this secret from my close family until just before it was released at the end of December, was excruciating. I hated not being able to tell them anything, but we all know that's what has to be done.

"Once the news broke, I was suddenly inundated with messages of congratulations from clinicians, health officials, patients, local politicians, and of course family and friends across the British Isles and indeed, around the world. Everyone has been so generous with their kind words, and it took some time to realise that what I do voluntarily does actually make a real difference to people's lives.

"The experience was like a fairytale and meeting the Princess Royal was something I will never forget. I see my award as not just a personal recognition, but testament to all the work the Group does to support and enhance the wellbeing of liver patients across the whole province.

"The Princess Royal was very engaging when we chatted at the investiture, and was shocked to hear that we support around 550 adults and the parents of around 120 children with liver conditions in Northern Ireland. She encouraged me to continue my work for many years to come, and wished me continued good health.”