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THE GIFT OF LIFE This Organ Donation Week, get involved – and go pink! – to help raise awareness about this act of kindness and its critical importance
rom 26 September to 2 October this year, Organ Donation Week will return to draw notice to the pivotal impact the practice
makes for individuals and their loved ones. Encouraging people to submit their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register, the week will also unite people in celebrating its importance, showcasing support for organ donation up and down the country – while also educating the public about how the process works. According to NHS records in 2017, more than 50,000 lives have been saved through organ transplants, with thousands either saved or transformed in the UK every single year. Between April 2021 and April 2022, the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust facilitated 41 actual solid organ donors, which resulted in 89 patients receiving a life-saving or life- changing transplant. However, with nearly 7,000 patients waiting for a transplant but only 1,618 receiving one this year, every day in the UK someone dies waiting for an organ transplant. Currently, there simply aren’t enough donors. This year, the Organ Donation Week campaign urges people to go pink to show support – whether wearing, baking, drinking or painting pink. Get creative and spread the word! #organdonationcambridge TWO LIVES CHANGED If you’re considering registering for organ donation, it’s important to talk with your family first and have their support. Holly, a Cambridge local, supported her husband’s choice to register. “Andy was larger than life; at 6ft 7in he made an impression wherever he went,” Holly says. “The pearly white smile would make
© MARTIN BOND
us all. Andy wanted his body to be donated to research, with his organs given to those that needed them – if you could use his teeth, someone would have gained a hell of a smile. There’s a lucky person out there who has his heart – and in some way that means Andy gets to live on.” John’s life was saved through NHS organ donation. “Nearly 12 years ago, I was diagnosed with alpha-1 antitrypsin disorder, TRUE COLOUR Wear pink to show appreciation and support for Organ Donation Week (above). Cambridge local Holly lost her husband Andy (right), but thanks to him another person now has a healthy heart
your saddest days turn into laughter. Being a police officer, death would pop up on a regular basis. Andy wanted to help people, believing that just because they may have done something bad doesn’t mean they are a bad person. He always encouraged us to be involved in life, bringing out the best in A lucky person out there has Andy’s heart – and in some way that means he gets to live on a genetic condition that I knew nothing about, but which caused my liver to stop working,” he says. “I was told, without a transplant, I would have about six months to live. As it happens, it was seven months before a suitable match was found. A very courageous and caring family agreed to donate their loved one’s organs. Although I don’t know this family, they are never far from my thoughts.”
SCAN THE QR CODE TO BE TAKEN TO THE ORGAN DONATION REGISTER
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK OCTOBER 2022 27
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