Organ and tissue donation; have you made your choice?
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Transplants save lives

 
Transplants have been described as one of the most miraculous achievements of modern medicine. They involve the donation of organs from one person to another and enable thousands of people in the UK to take on a new lease of life every year. Transplants are the best possible treatment for most people with organ failure, resulting in donation being described as giving “the gift of life”.
 

There are two types of donation, organ donation and tissue donation. The organs that can be donated include; heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver and small bowel. Tissues that can be donated include; corneas, skin, bone, tendons and heart valves. Tissue donation is something very few people know about. Corneas can be transplanted to restore the sight of a person who has a severe eye disease or injury.
 

Bone and tendons are used for reconstruction after an injury or during joint replacement surgery. A bone transplant can prevent limb amputation in patients suffering from bone cancer. Heart valves are used to save the lives of children born with heart defects and adults with diseased or damaged valves. Skin grafts are used as protective dressings to treat people with severe burns.
 

Most people can donate something. When deciding whether you want to become a donor, please do not think, “my organs are no good” but think “if any of my body is of any use to anyone, would I want to donate it?” If you are uncertain about donation, another question to ask yourself is, would I be prepared to receive a transplant if I needed one and should this affect my willingness to donate?
 

Every year hundreds of people die while waiting for a transplant and many others lose their lives before they even get on to the transplant waiting list. There is a critical shortage of organs and the gap between the number of organs donated and the number of people waiting for a transplant is increasing. One major reason for the shortage of donors is that many people have not thought about donation or discussed it with their families. Too few people have joined the NHS Organ Donor Register and made sure that their families know their wishes. 40% of relatives say ‘no’ to donation as they did not know what their loved one would have wanted.
 

Transplants save lives

Please do seriously think about organ and tissue donation.

You can help others after your death in the following ways:

By signing up to the NHS Organ Donor Register.
You can pick up a form at your local GP surgery

Call the NHS Organ Donor Line on
0845 60 60 400

or visit UK Transplant’s website at
www.uktransplant.org.uk
 

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