THERE is nothing more precious than the gift of life – yet still not even a third of people in the UK carry organ donor cards.
Lepton man Neil Tarbutt was given a new chance of life after receiving a liver transplant from a 30-year-old woman who died from a fatal brain tumour.
Neil does not know anything more about this wonderful person – yet the chances are that she also donated other organs so several other people may have cause to thank her more than any words could ever say.
Yet if your life – or that of a close loved one – depended on an organ transplant then doubtless you would grab that chance if it ever came up.
And that’s just the problem. With just 28% of Britons signing onto the Organ Donor Register, three people are dying in the UK every day for want of a new heart, lungs, liver or other vital organs.
Now Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust has a specialist organ donation nurse, Rachel Wiseman, who works in intensive care and accident and emergency units to liaise with families facing the agony of bereavement. She talks to them about organ donation.
No doubt a demanding task, but one which, ultimately, can mean the difference between life and death for others.
But if more simply carried the card, undoubtedly her job would be easier and more people would get the organ donation they so desperately need.
