Calls for more living kidney donors
Almost one in five in the Oxfordshire region would consider donating to someone we didn't know
New research from charities Kidney Research UK and Give a Kidney shows only 13% of adults would consider donating a kidney to a stranger.
These figures are being released as a campaign starts to encourage more people to consider becoming a living kidney donor.
The campaign forms part of a wider programme of activity that will provide potential donors with information and specialist help to guide and support them throughout their donation journey.
Often labelled as a ‘silent killer’, kidney disease can appear without physical symptoms and is often misdiagnosed.
More than 5,500 people are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant in the UK but only about 1,000 living donors in the UK choose to donate a kidney every year – in most cases to a family member or friend. However, six people die each week whilst waiting.
What are the statistics in the South East?
• Well over one in two people in Oxfordshire and the South East (58%) would consider becoming a living kidney donor to a family member, with almost a third (30%) saying they would consider the same for a friend.
• Close to in five people in Oxfordshire and the South East (15%) would consider becoming a living kidney donor to someone they didn’t know
• 82% in the Oxfordshire region believe they can change someone’s life even they’ve never met them.
Chief Executive of Kidney Research UK, Sandra Currie:
"If you give to charity or donate blood, this is another way which you can add to your way of giving.
"It really does changes lives, in fact you will save someone's life.
"Dialysis is a really difficult treatment.
"From the living donors I have spoken with, it changes their lives too. It's something they're doing which is remarkable."