IF your life depended on it you’d almost certainly accept an organ transplant.
But just 28% of Britons have agreed to donate their heart, lungs, liver and other vital organs after death by signing the Organ Donor Register.
Deciding to donate your organs will prevent loved one’s with agonising decisions after your passing.
It is the job of a team of dedicated nurses to find organs for almost 8,000 people who are currently awaiting a transplant in the UK.
They are sourcing potential organ donors and co-ordinating the long list of people in desperate need of transplants used to be handled by single teams at university hospitals in Leeds, Sheffield and Hull.
The total number of people registered on the Organ Donor Register was 18,693,549 - or 30% of the population - by the end of March 2012. This is an increase of nearly 950,000 people on the previous year.
Earlier this year the Rose Garden of Remembrance opened at Calderdale Royal Hospital to pay tribute to the many generous people who have become organ and tissue donors in the Huddersfield and Halifax region.
To become an organ donor or for more information visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk www.cht.nhs.uk.
or call 0300 123 23 23.
