Created by Christy Ducker and Emma Holliday in collaboration with LIVErNORTH, Our Livers, Our Lives is a collection of poetry and art produced by people affected with liver disease.
The work displayed voices first-hand experience of liver disease, treatment, loss and also celebration.
Patient Gallery
We hope you read and see things here that make you think, make you smile and help you feel less alone.
Poetry should be part of every modern hospital.
I would really like to see more workshops like this in all departments of the hospital.
The making of Our Livers, Our Lives
Welcome to Our Livers, Our Lives, a collection of poetry and art produced people affected by liver disease, and funded by LIVErNORTH. The work in this leaflet voices first-hand experience of liver disease, treatment, loss, and also celebration. We hope you read and see things that make you think, make you smile, and help you feel less alone.
'Poetry should be part of every modern hospital', as much-missed Tyneside poet, Julia Darling said. Our livers, Our Lives continues Julia's quest: to use poetry to break down barriers between doctors and patients; to help patients feel 'in charge again' of their experience; to include poetry in medical leaflets as often as possible.
Our Livers, Our Lives is part of the first stage of a research project supported by LIVErNORTH, the Institute of Transplantation, and Newcastle University's Institute for Creative Arts Practice. It has grown from a series of creative workshops at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, and is now set to expand into more far-reaching education work. As one of the contributors to the leaflet remarked, 'I would really like to see more workshops like this in all departments of the hospital'.
Everyone will come to this leaflet in a different way, with a different perspective. We're glad it has found you! It's here to improve public understanding of the experience of liver disease and treatment. lt's here to educate healthcare professionals who care for liver patients. It's here to reassure and talk straight to those who face illness and transplant, or who've recently gone through difficult times. In the voice of another workshop participant, Our livers, Our Lives is here to 'smile and speak language we understand'.
Christy Ducker & Emma Holliday
Submit here
Do you have any art, poetry, personal experiences or photographs which you would like to share in the LWLC patient gallery?
