Call for families in North Yorkshire to talk about organ donation over the festive season
There are currently 129 patients awaiting the life-saving gift of an organ transplant in North Yorkshire.
As Christmas approaches NHS Blood and Transplant is calling on families in North Yorkshire to talk about organ donation and register their decision to help save lives.
With some families hoping to get together for Christmas for the first time since the pandemic began, NHS Blood and Transplant is urging people to take a moment during the celebrations to talk about their organ donation decision and to leave their family members certain of what they want to happen.
There are currently 129 patients awaiting the life-saving gift of an organ transplant in North Yorkshire and many of their lives could be saved or significantly improved if a donor is found. Yet every day across the UK someone dies in need of an organ transplant.
Anthony Clarkson, Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation at NHSBT, says:
"Wherever and however people in North Yorkshire plan to spend this Christmas, we hope that everyone will be able to enjoy the festivities and spend some much needed time with family and friends.
"For many thousands of people across the country, including 52 people in North Yorkshire who have had transplants this year, the only reason that they are able to enjoy a happy and healthy Christmas is thanks to the generosity of a donor and their family who so selflessly chose to give the gift of life. However, there are still thousands of people who are still desperately hoping and waiting for the transplant that will transform their life.
"Please take a moment this Christmas to let your family know your organ donation decision. Those conversations could help save the lives of people currently spending their Christmas waiting for a transplant."
Even though the law around organ donation has now moved to an opt out system across England, Wales, and Scotland, many are still not aware that families will still always be consulted before organ donation goes ahead.
While families are more likely, and find it easier, to support donation when they already know it is what their loved one wanted, only 42% of the UK population have registered their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register and just 37% say that they have shared their organ donation decision with their family.
Roger Pierce lives in York and donated his kidney a few years ago - he says it's a vitally important issue to talk about:
"After I donated my kidney I of course didn't meet the recipient, but a couple of months after I received a letter from a lady called Leslie. What she described to me was that in the weeks leading up to the donation she was feeling very low and was considering discontinuing dialysis.
"The operation went ahead, and she thanked me for the gift of life. It is this ability for donors like me - it costs us nothing - to give people the gift of a much better life. My journey started when I met a member of a kidney dialysis support team, who told me how difficult it can be to be getting that treatment.
"It's the difficult of the actual transfusion and the laborious nature of going to a hospital for hours; giving a kidney is comparatively simple and the recovery is fast. Donations which are given by living donors are far more successful than those that are taken away from people who have died, because it can be planned more.
"When I gave my kidney I was around 71 years old, and was told unlike the rest of my body that kidneys don't really age; your sole kidney actually enlarges to deal with the increased risk. You don't feel any different physically, but what you do feel is emotion - that you've done something good. It's a good feeling".