Families in Bradford urged to talk about organ donation
The global COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the organ donor donation and transplantation services in the District.
Last updated 11th Sep 2020
During Organ Donation Week, (7-13 September), NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTHFT) are urging people to talk to their families about organ donation to increase the number of people whose lives can be saved or transformed by an organ or tissue transplant.
From May this year, the law around organ donation has now changed in England. All adults are now considered as having agreed to donate their own organs when they die, unless they record a decision not to donate or are in one of the excluded groups.
In Bradford today (figures taken on 13 August, 2020), 85 patients are waiting on a life-saving transplant. To date in 2020/21, 13 Bradford people have received the gift of life, while in 2019/20 this figure stood at 50 – unfortunately the global COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the organ donor donation and transplantation services. Altogether, 212,598 Bradfordians have now made their decisions known and joined the NHS Organ Donor Register.
This week, doctors and specialist nurses at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital, are urging families across the district to talk about their organ donation decision and make sure their loved ones are aware as families will continue to be approached before organ donation goes ahead.
Clinical Lead for Organ Donation at BTHFT, Consultant Anaesthetist, Dr Andy Baker, said: “Knowing what your relative wanted helps families support their decision around organ donation at what is often a difficult time”
“We desperately need more people in Bradford to talk about organ donation to increase the number of life-saving transplants. These conversations are especially important for those in our south Asian community.
“People from these communities are more likely to need a transplant and they will often have to wait longer on the list as the best match is to receive a donated organ from someone of the same ethnicity.”
Intensive Care Nurse, Narinder Kaur from Bradford, became an altruistic kidney donor in December 2018. She was spurred on to donate her kidney after caring for renal patients while working as a student nurse at the Bradford Royal Infirmary’s renal medical ward 6.
She says: “I came to nursing late in life at the age of 42 and I am six years qualified this month. I love my job. It brings me great fulfilment in life.
“During my second year of nurse training in 2013, I worked on the renal medical ward and was inspired by the patients and staff. The people I met there left a lasting impression on me and I choose to work there immediately after graduating.
“After doing my own research privately I’ve always believed you can lead a perfectly normal life with just one kidney, and while working on the renal ward straight after nurse qualification, I picked up a leaflet one day about altruistic donors and it sparked a big interest. The more I thought about it the more it made sense and I wanted to do it, it stayed in my heart and soul. I wanted to convert these thoughts into actions, I am a great believer in actions being louder than words.”
Narinder was well aware that patients from a Black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) background wait far longer than white British patients due to the need to match organs with blood and tissue type.
“Everyone knows that if you if you are waiting for an organ transplant and come from a BAME background you’re more likely to languish on the organ transplant list and I saw many people who died waiting for the transplant that never came.
“Since I started nursing I have always had a secret desire to donate a kidney because I wanted to help someone else who wasn’t as fortunate as me health-wise. I just wanted to do something worthwhile and give something back to the universe.”
Narinder contacted Bradford Renal Consultant, John Stoves, and following initial tests and a physiological assessment at St Luke’s Hospital, was referred for more thorough medical examinations at St James’ Hospital in Leeds where the regional kidney transplant centre is based”
“After many weeks of waiting for the tests to be completed, I finally got the word ‘Congrats Narinder, we’ve found a match and you are someone’s golden ticket to a new lease of life!’”
In December 2018, Narinder donated her kidney to a young man who had been poorly with chronic kidney disease. “I insisted that I didn’t want to meet him as I said ‘No, I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for the greater good and I don’t need the thanks or the attention.
“Hearing from the transplant co-ordinator that my kidney had worked immediately for the recipient, and he was not just surviving but thriving was all I needed to know.”
Narinder still attends hospital for yearly check-ups as part of the NHS’s aftercare service to altruistic donors.
“There is a big need for organs within our community and unless people hear about my story, they may not know that you can do this.
“Being able to give one of my kidneys to another person, who may have eventually died if they had not received this organ, is being able to give the gift of life. I am living proof that you can live well with one kidney …so why not stop the suffering of those who stay on the transplant list through no fault of their own.”