Over 900 people in South Yorkshire alive after organ transplants
New stats show more than 900 people across South Yorkshire are alive right now because someone's donated them an organ
NHS figures show more than 900 people are alive in South Yorkshire thanks to an organ donation.
The stats, revealed by the NHS Blood and Transplant unit, show numbers of organs being donated has reached record highs.
Experts say more and more people are surviving transplants and there's been a rise in people signing up to become donors.
In South Yorkshire, the number of people on the register has risen by 25% over the past 5 years.
Tony Batty, from Barnsley, was given his kidney transplant after doctors had given him just 2 years to live:
"When it came to the day it was like winning the lottery. After the operation my body was completely different, it's instantaneous you feel a different person completely."
He spent almost five years on dialysis treatment struggling to find a donor when one of his old school friends was tested and was a match.
"It was a life line, my eldest son lost his mum, she died through child birth. It wasn't just a lifeline for me it was a lifeline for him, because if I go he's got nobody. You've just no life on a dialysis machine, you've got no life at all. You're tired all the time you just want to drop to sleep and it was hard for me because I had two young children at the time so it was even harder. "
Even with record highs of people signing up to be donors, the NHS say there is still a long way to go and a big shortage in the number of organs being donated.
Tony doesn't want people to be put off signing up to the register:
"There's more people dying every year through not getting a transplant. They're giving somebody a life not just me, children. And really if they think about it the people that are donating, they're living on in somebody else. They're not gone they're living on in somebody else and making somebody else's life a lot better. "
One person can save up to 9 lives by donating their organs. There are still over 6000 people across the UK waiting for an organ.
Sally Johnson's Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant:
“More people than ever in South Yorkshire are committing to organ donation and that is saving more lives than ever. It’s amazing to picture all the people now alive today thanks to organ donation and think of all the families and children who have grown up thanks to donors.
“We’re seeing more and more people committing to donation and the good results of our close work with hospitals. Our specialist nurses in organ donation are now almost always involved in discussions with families over organ donation.
“However there is still a long way to go. Around three people still die a day in need of a transplant. Every one of those people who died could be a mother or a father, a daughter or a son, who might be alive today"