Members of the East Sussex Healthcare Organ Donation Committee were promoting awareness of the organ donor register at Eastbourne’s Airbourne. In total 360 people signed up to the Organ Donor Register.
To help promote organ donation there was a giant version of the board game Operation called ‘Operation donation’. The giant game gave people the chance to visualise all the nine organs one individual can donate, and have a go to carefully extract them without the buzzer going off.
People enjoying playing ‘Operation Donation’ at Airbourne
Dr Tuhin Goswami, Clinical Lead Organ Donation said: “It’s fantastic that so many more people have signed up to the organ donation register but would encourage more to do so. In the UK, one in three people die every day, while waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. It doesn’t have to be this way. We want to encourage people to sign up to the donor register but more importantly, to tell their next of kin of their wishes. Telling your nearest and dearest is important so they fully understand and honour your wishes regarding organ and tissue donation. It’s true that in the UK, 2 out of 5 (40%) families refuse organ donation even if their loved one has signed and consented to this on the organ donor register.
“Each and every organ donor can give the gift of life and save up to nine people and can help many more through tissue donation such as skin, corneas and tendons. Because of this, we want to do all we can to ensure all local people who want to donate are able to by making sure they sign up to the Organ Donor Register and talk about their wishes with their families.”
The fact is that most people are desperately waiting for one organ transplant such as a heart, lung, kidney or liver to transform their life. One single organ donor can donate several organs thus helping up to 9 different people. Tissues can also be donated such as cornea (the transparent layer at the front of the eye), bone, heart valves, skin, tendons and cartilage. All donors have the choice of which organs and tissues they wish to donate.
Organ donor’s names are held on the NHS Organ Donor Register. It is a confidential national database that holds the details of people who want to donate their organs when they die. However we still need the donor’s family to agree and honour the donor’s wishes after death. Anyone can join the register by visiting the organ donation website or calling the NHS Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23.