30/01/2012 Inside Out South West

Hello and welcome to Inside Out South West. Stories from where you

live. Tonight, the remarkable moment a kidney Patient meets the

stranger who wants to save her life. One woman's campaign to stop

patients needlessly dying. We are hoping to justify wanting us all to

be donors. It is not good enough. And a retail guru are trying to

convince East Devon traders to a love of their area. And this is a

shop run by a very feisty Lady! controversy at Exeter Cathedral.

do not have anything against the cathedral personally and I do not

see why we cannot work together. have had incident that had been

very difficult. I have had faeces but through my letterbox. I am Sam

Smith and this is Inside Out South Every year in the UK, hundreds of

people die waiting for an organ transplant. We have been following

the remarkable story of one Devon woman who has been campaigning for

more organs to be available after a simple mistake left her own life

hanging in the balance. For 10 hours a week, Charlotte

Gordon Cumming comes here for dialysis. She is waiting for a

kidney transplant that would give her a new life. It is like you have

your life back. This is not a system that will keep you alive

forever. But with 8,000 others wanted a kidney, she may be waiting

in vain. We can put your name on the transplant waiting list but we

cannot guarantee that there is an organ for you in time. Three years

ago, Charlotte's husband, Nicholas Evans, the writer of The Horse

Whisperer, went out mushroom picking. It was a late summer day

and we ate the mushrooms out on the grass and that evening we went for

a lovely run for about an hour around this beautiful place,

through the forest, and had a swim in the river, and felt that there

was nothing wrong with the world at all. Then, overnight, people

started getting sick. Boy, we were ill. I was hallucinating by the

time I got to the hospital. I very nearly died. But it was a

protracted nightmare. The first few days, the first week or two, they

were really severe. It would have been very easy to give up the will

to live. If I had not had my child I would not have lived for my

family or my husband. It was not enough, the love, it was strong

love but it was not enough. It is the bond that a parent has with a

child, it is beyond, and I knew I had to fight for him. They were

lucky to survive, but the poisonous mushrooms had destroyed their

kidneys. Three years on, Charlotte is waiting for a kidney transplant.

That is it. It is just one little kid me. I have just got to wait

patiently and wait if one comes my way -- to see if one comes my way,

and hopefully it will. Charlotte comes to Torbay Hospital to have

her blood cleaned by a machine. you do not last forever on dialysis.

There is a piece of information that says that roughly six years,

after six years, your body really begins to fall apart. It keeps us

alive. Everyone in the unit would prefer to have a transplant then to

be sitting there week after week. 18 million people are registered to

donate, but only a tiny number actually do. Charlotte is concerned

that organs are being wasted. can they justify wanting us all to

be donors and then do nothing with our organs? -- how can they justify.

People are making huge decisions and it is not good enough.

government experts say that there are good reasons why people who

want to donate cannot. You have to die in a very specific circumstance

or from a very specific disease to be suitable to be a -- an organ

donor. People who died in hospice or at home or work in a roadside

accident, almost certainly, it will not be possible. People who died in

intensive care unit at a hospital and people who die in an emergency

room, they could be considered suitable donors. That is why there

are still 8,000 people on dialysis, waiting for a kidney transplant.

With too few organ donors available, many people are helped out by

living donors. Nicholas has been one of the lucky ones. My daughter,

at that stage, it was earlier this year, she said it was time to get

real. She got quite cross with me and said, you think I am being

unselfish but I am being selfish. I want you to be around to see my

children. Then I saw a consultant who took me and my wife through the

statistics and showed that there was not a risk for Laurenne and

that you could live with one kidney quite happily. Nicholas and

Charlotte started campaigning to encourage living donors, and now a

complete stranger has come forward for Charlotte. A out of the blue

and email came and she just sounds wonderful, absolutely wonderful,

and completely wanted to just get on with it and go to London and

have the tests to see if she could do it. She is the right blood group

but there are still a few tests to do. Even if Allie is not the right

one, there will be someone there for me. I just know there is. If

Allie is it, then fantastic, I will be thrilled. They are meeting for

the first time. Hello! You all right? Well done! My phone broke

down. Allie is a friend of a friend who heard about Charlotte's plight

and offered to help. When someone asked me why we were born with two

kidneys, I said the reason was to give one away. I thought it was

quite nice. There is something about humanity that is generally

important and wonderful. You are wonderful! You really are. Last

year. Harley Street in London. Charlotte needs to get the go-ahead

from a specialist. It is unusual to be given a to B by a stranger and

to meet them first. -- a kidney by a stranger. The doctors need to

make sure that Allie is donating for the right reasons. He is just

going to get things moving as fast as possible and do our tissue

testing and see if it works. If it works we will just go on.

Charlotte's future is looking brighter, but she wants to see

changes to make sure that last organs are being wasted. I think it

is a disaster. We have never much would unit in the South West. If

someone was to die here, the probabilities are that perhaps

their organs would not be used. There are retrieval teams that we

can use at Birmingham and Oxford. That is ours away. The Government

organ Zahra says that removals are best taken out by teams that are on

call. I am proud of what we have achieved. I am desperately unhappy

that there are still 1,000 people waiting for a transplant because

there are not enough organs. -- there are still thousands.

Charlotte has been thrown a lifeline but others will have to

wait. The strangest thing is that you are cold a lot of the time. Now

that the winter is coming in, the idea of going through another

winter on dialysis and trying to keep myself warm and positive and

pain-free is a challenge. It is a real, real challenge.

An amazing story, and all being well, Charlotte's transplant should

go ahead next month. Exeter Cathedral prides itself on

being a place where everyone is welcome. But the cathedral

authorities have run out of patience with these visitors, a

protest -- protest camp against corporate greed. Now the stage is

They have been here 11 a long weeks, practising their own form of

consensus democracy. We leave it -- used a number of hand gestures. We

make proposals with a sign like this and we take a temperature

check to see how people feel about things. If we feel positive we

twinkle our hands up words and if we do not feel positive we shake

them down. Not all of the protesters live on camp. Lee is one

up Occupy Exeter's key members, but We don't have leaders. I'm a member

of the Occupy movement. We have people to facilitate meetings and

have specific roles. I'm part of the media team. The relationship

with the cathedral has been on and off. They have refused to engage

with us on the real issues. So I don't though why that is. It seems

as if their interest is in land. Their interest is, this is our land,

you need to get off our land. Rather than you know, we're both of

us interested in economic and social injustice and making the

world a better place. The Occupy movement started in September in

New York. Anger at bank bailouts spilled into direct action, which

spread to London and St Paul's Cathedral. It was not long before

other camps popped up. Taking their message to the streets of Exeter....

In November protesters in Exeter marched to the cathedral green and

were met with a warm welcome. People are choosing cathedrals as

gathering places. The church believes that it is a human right

that people should be able to peacefully protest. Nearly three

months on and it's all less harmonious. The cathedral has told

the protesters to leave now. It is disappointed some protesters, who

say they and the church have similar aims. We have said we have

nothing against the cathedral. I can't see why we can't work

together. I would say that Occupy is a moral movement about feeding

hungry people, clothing homeless people and making sure everyone has

dignity and respect and a voice in society. That is crucial to not

only the Occupy movement, but what I understand of religion. I'm not

religious, but what I understand of the goes peteds that is what Jesus

was saying. -- gospels. No one from the cathedral wanted to take part

in our film. But they have spoken. We have had lts of incidents that

have been difficult, fight ing, call the police, I have had human

faeces put through my letterbox, I have had colleagues daughters

targeted. It is not a nice place. Especially at night-time. The pr

testers say problem have been caused in part by homeless people,

who they don't want to turn away. There is a policy of no drugs no,

alcohol and no noise. But some people have complicated lives and

it is difficult to bear that in mind. But on the whole people,

everyone on the camp is... Doing their best, is doing their best to

live by the policy. I think that is something that maybe the cathedral

don't realise that people are trying their best. It is 8pm and

police arrest a man for breaching his bail conditions. Put your hands

behinds your back. It is the kind of rumpus the cathedral does not

want on its green. I have been in there, I have been asleep all

BLEEPing day. I don't give a BLEEP what you say. It is difficult when

they have denied us the ability to have access to water, denied us a

toilet and access to a toilet. They have switched off the lights on the

north side. They haven't really done what they can to support us.

They have made it our problem, rather than helping in any way. I

think that is tough. The cathedral has defended its actions, citing

public safety. It did suffer a stall on the green if they

disbanded the camp, but that was turned down. Now a donation is

being brought back to the site. This is going on the roof. Monster,

as he calls himself, lived in care for a young age and now he is

living on the green. The last 12 years have been an interesting few

years, to be honest. Six out of those I have spent on the street. I

see the Occupy movement as... I suppose a leg for this country to

stands on to get it back, try and get the country back to it name,

which was once Great Britain. It is not very great at the moment.

Because we're run by a country that all the politicians want money.

When was the last time you worked? 2001. So I haven't worked in ten

years. How do you live? Doing what I do best, taking money out of the

Government. I have spent the last ten years on benefits. I have lost

count how many claims I have had. Are you happy with that situation?

To be honest yes, the Government seem the think they can take money

off us, so why can't I take money off them? But he has been inspired

by the others. I haven't worked in so long, its doesn't help the

motivation. But being around people that are being part of the movement,

but are work at the same time, and still putting their spare time into

the Occupy movement, I think that is what has given me the motivation

to go, is I can get a job and accomodation. The last few weeks

have seen some campers leave. earth was made of common treasury

for everyone... Although the threat of legal action seems to be

strengthening the remaining protesters' resolve. A meeting is

called to decide the next move. Cool. What next? Stay until the

court hearing and defend it. We have got three or four people who

have done research. If a possession order is made we could possibly

decide then to withdraw from the site. Option No 2. Quit before the

court hearing and go elsewhere. Pros, it is a fresh start. There

may be other sites. We could focus on outreach. Option No 3! Keep us

in the public eye. It went all right. A good long discussion,

looking at pros and condition -- cons, listening to peep's heads and

hearts. We haven't reached a decision, but we have heard a lot

of thing and said a lot of thing and we're keeping our spirits up.

It was good. We're Occupy. We are the 99%. Saturday and a week after

getting its know e note is to leave, Occupy Exeter hits the high street.

They're protesting against lawful tax avoidance by big business.

shop, pay your tax! It I an attempt to get back to their core message

as the row with the cathedral intensifies. We may move off the

cathedral green, but we're not going to go away. We realise that

this is an important movement, that what we're saying is important and

people are with us and people value what we're doing. The legal process

of eviction could take many weeks. So even if they lose, the

protesters seem set for a long battle with a cathedral that won't

forgive them their trespasses. These are tough times for our high

streets with a report suggesting that a third of them are in a down

wards spiral of decline. Supermarkets are often blamed for

adding to woes of independent traders. But this a really the

case? We have been to one town to investigate. Ottery St Mary's, its

traditional high street has a mix of stores. But now there is a new

kid in town. The supermarket, especial lay high level one, sets

the bar. It is a sad day for Ottery. Because the supermarket is too huge.

It will bring a lot of traffic to town and they will go into

Sainsbury's, get their shopping and just drive home. The shop has have

the stars with felt tip and half price for OAPs Tuesday, they can be

threatened by a quality retailer. Ottery is bracing itself for change.

Sainsbury's is opening a new store and the council hopes it will bring

new business into the town centre. But there are fears it could take

trade from independent shops. The arrival of Sainsbury's has caused

sleepless nightss for some traders whose shops have been here for a

hundred years. I'm worried. I woke up at 4am, trying to get it out of

my head. But I am nervous of the future. I don't know where we are

going to be in so many months time. The butcher is also worried his

takings could be cut. Some may well benefit. But I think there is a lot

will lose out. What will it do to your trade? I don't think it will

increase it. Has this divided Ottery? Not everyone thinks it is a

bad thing. Yes, there will be some casualties, I feel sure of that. It

is a shame. I'm an Ottery man and I don't want to see it happen. But

there has been a mood swing and new businesses have opened up. Others

have changed what they're selling. I hope and expect a lot of

businesses will change their hours, maybe go six or seven days of week,

not shutting o' on a half day on Wednesday like some do. Not

shutting to lunch. People have to change with the times. The farmers

market has been forced to move, because Sainsbury's has taken over

its usual car park. Today, things are looking quiet. We could do with

some customers! What do you thil the aefbgt e effect will be? I feel

it will go one way or the other, finish us or be good. At this point

oom not sure. But I will hang on and see. Simple as that. Step

forward retail guru, Jeff Burch. He preaches survival of the fittest.

What does history teach us about what happens when a supermarket

moves into a town? It is usually good news. Because what it starts

to do is holds the shoppers that were drifting off to other bigger

centres, the cities and so on, that are in driving distance. It ups the

game of the town. They could survive? They certainly, they're

not only could survive, they could thrive. But they have got to stop

being whingey and get the sort of the stock rotating and much more

important, they have got to get their own team of people to be

professional, friendly and outgoing, the welcome the customers in. And

suggest to them and to sell to them and to make it happen. It is

opening day at Sainsbury's. The store says it doesn't want to drive

local shops out. A lot of meat, but no butcher? No we don't have a

butcher in this store. All the meat is pre-packed. But that means we

can sit happily side by side with the butchers on the high street.

Was that condition that you impose on yourselves or was it required?

It was naefr condition of the planning permission. It wasing in

we -- it was never a condition of the planning permission. It was

something we disided to do. shop is in competition with the

local fishmonger. I see no reason why the two aren't supportive. You

come here to go to Sainsbury's and may go to the local shops. Most

shops I think will be safe. I think definitely. We have still got the

cafe. Sally's cafe. We're going there after for breakfast.

store has been open a couple of hours and it is busy and it looks

like business is booming. But will it be good for Ottery St Mary's? A

month later and traders at the farmers market say takings are down.

Trade I would say was half the trade. So just hope it does return

to what it was. Wl you keep going? I will. As long as the market's

here will keep going. I will be the last to go. I don't want to let my

customers down. Simple as that. Retail expert Jeff Burch has come

to the hard ware shop. Hello, I'm Jeff. Can he convince Ross that

Ottery can thrive? How does the future look? Challenging. We have

got Sainsbury's on our doorstep. Good news? No. Why? Because it is

too big. And it is, I have seen it destroy towns, large supermarket

come and it finish all the independent shops. I look at nit a

different way. The -- it in a different way. I would say it is

too big for this town, because they know what they're doing and they

will attracts new people. I predicts that if you can keep on

top of its and keep on the ball, your business will grow, not fail.

I really believe you have an opportunities. I am growing its,

because I have to fight. So yes I'm doing that. You have given the

classic massagey shop, that is change or die. -- messagey shop.

What are your impression. Traditional shop run by a feisty

lady. It noise good saying, they need to do or die, but some people

have been in the, it is their lives and it is my whole life. Jeff's

convinced that this town is big enough for the both of them. And

some traders are not going down without a fight. It will be hard

work. We will have to continues to adapt. But I hopefully, I'm