"Wow, it is hard to sum up all the things that happened on the day of our Big Sign Up and all the emotions that came with it but I am going to give it a try…
Basically… 'amazing'!
The event started at 3pm, with, Benedict opening the show with some beautiful and original covers and really getting the crowd warmed up!
Then our fab presenter Jameela came on and spoke to the crowd and we came up on stage. By this point there was quite a big audience and we were getting very nervous but managed to pull it off! We were joined by lovely Alexandra Burke and then some amazing recipients, including Hope's brother Wills, who came up to tell their stories.
Each of the recipients had a different story and a personal thought about their experience, it was so moving and really showed the crowd that organ donation can affect anyone and what a difference it can make.
Then Alexandra came up on stage and did not one, but two beautiful songs (Perfect and an acoustic version of Hallelujiah) which had a lot of people in tears.
Next we had to try and get 100 sign ups in one hour to set the Guinness World Record. The hour seemed to go very quickly and then there was a long, nervous wait for the results. Me and Hope were so worried we would just fall short of our target and not set the record. The World records official came out on stage and told us we had got 321 sign ups! Triple our target and such an incredible result.
It was very emotional for everyone hearing the result, we got some lovely photos of us with the world record certificate and did last bits of filming and then it was the end of a really incredible day.
We are so proud of our huge achievement but also very grateful to all the other people who made it possible.We had an amazing stage crew, film crew, and the street team who helped us get the sign ups.
There were also the wonderful transplant recipients who came from all over to share their stories and really make the event so personal and moving.
Thanks too, of course, to our lovely presenter Jameela Jamil, performer Benedict and our fabulous celebrity guest and singer, Alexandra Burke who were a huge part of the day. We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help.
Big thanks to everyone who came along to support us and all the brilliant people that signed up to save lives during that crucial hour!
Look out for the TV programme coming up later in the year to see just how amazing it really was."
Abby x
