Sign up as a donor now and give the gift of life

Jill Edwards, 73, from Carterton, is still counting her lucky stars after a heart transplant 25 years ago.

She said: “If anyone is thinking twice about putting themselves on the register they need to remind themselves that you can’t take your organs to heaven, heaven needs them here.

“One of your organs could save three people’s lives.”

The mother of three and grandmother of five was working as a secretary in 1990 when she started to experience sharp chest pains.

She was sent to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where it was discovered she had a condition which causes the muscles of the heart to thicken.

In the months leading up to Christmas 1990, Ms Edwards was in the same position as those 76 people across Oxfordshire today and was desperately waiting to hear whether a donor had been found.

She said: “Its torture just lying in your hospital bed wondering whether you’re going to live or whether you’re going to die.

“By putting yourself on the register, you will be giving someone the greatest gift you can ever give: life.”

After six weeks on the transplant waiting list, she was given the news that an organ had been found.

She said: “Even after the transplant, the doctors told me I had a 40 per cent chance of living five years and that would be good.

“I have kind of exceeded that and 25 years on I’m doing just fine.”

Mrs Edwards is now retired but still swims 50 lengths a week and competes in the national and international transplant games, winning more than 100 medals.

According to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) four out of ten families in the UK currently do not give permission to donate organs when approached by doctors as it remains a taboo issue.

Cathy Falcus, 41, from Grove, believes that the organ donation is an issue that should not be left until the death of a family of a member but should be something that is discussed in advance.

She said: “There should be an open dialogue about donation.

“People talk openly about financially insuring their health, so why can’t they talk openly about what they want to do with their organs?”

Mrs Falcus, who is an administrator at Rutherford Appleton laboratory in Harwell, received a liver transplant 18 years ago after being treated for chronic active hepatitis at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.

She was seriously ill, had yellowed skin and was sleeping about 20 hours a day until a donated liver gave her a new lease of life.

She said: “If I hadn’t been given the gift of life that was my transplant, I would never have had my five-year-old son Bayley.”

“Every day that I get to spend with him and the rest of my family is an absolute blessing.”

She added: “All of my friends complain about getting older but every birthday I just thank god that I’m still here with my family.

“No-one will ever be able to understand just how grateful I am to the person who saved my life.”

‘IT WAS THE BEST NEWS IN THE WORLD’

• Lifeline: Robyn Dunbar with her parents Robert Dunbar and Valerie Pinfold, who have both benefited from organ transplants. Valerie underwent a liver transplant earlier this year while Robert received a kidney from his brother in 2011

PEOPLE in Oxfordshire are being urged to sign up to give the gift of life and register to donate organs.

There are currently 76 people across the county waiting to receive organ transplants and last year, more than 40 lives were saved thanks to a donation.

The NHS Blood and Transplant has said in the past five years 30 people in Oxfordshire have died waiting for transplants.

For Robyn Dunbar, 23, who lives in Chipping Norton, organ donors have meant she can enjoy more time with her parents.

At the beginning of the year, Miss Dunbar’s mother Valerie Pinfold, who used to work in the Co-op in Chipping Norton, was diagnosed with a long-term liver disease in which the bile ducts in her liver became damaged.

After waiting on the organ donation list for several weeks, Ms Pinfold, 48, was told she would get a new liver in February.

Ms Pinfold said: “The news didn’t sink in for a while. It was an amazing feeling.”

Unfortunately, a few days after the transplant, they were told her new liver was failing and Ms Pinfold was put on an emergency list for a new one. Miss Dunbar, who is a hairdresser at RJ Hair in Chipping Norton, said: “We were told that mum only had a couple of hours to live, which was absolutely devastating.”

Fortunately, Ms Pinfold received another new liver just in time.

Ms Dunbar said: “It was the best news in the world to find out that my mum was to receive another new liver and I can’t explain how grateful we are to the person who signed up.”

However, this was not the first time the family had experienced a wait for a new organ.

In 2011, Miss Dunbar’s father, Robert, 51, who works in construction and lives in Shipton-under-Wychwood, received a kidney from his brother after being diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

He said: “Finding out I was going to need a new kidney was a real shock but thankfully we quickly found out that my older brother Stuart was a match.

“If I hadn’t received a new kidney I would have had to go on dialysis and I would’ve been in a state of no man’s land – unable to move and enjoy my life.

“So not only did my brother give me a better quality of life, but he literally gave me my life back.”

The most common type of polycystic kidney disease is an inherited condition which doctors believe Miss Dunbar will suffer with in the future.

Miss Dunbar said: “It’s something I’m trying not to think about right now, but I know it’s inevitable that I will also need a kidney transplant at some point.

“I’m staying positive and starting a campaign to encourage people across the county to put their name onto the register.”

Next year Miss Dunbar will be setting herself a series of challenge depending on how many people sign up to the organ donation register.

If 60 or more people sign up, she will hold a tarantula, if 80 or more people sign on she will complete a Go Ape assault course dressed as a monkey and if 100 people sign on she will take part in a bungee jump She said: “The challenges will be taking place on February 27, 2016, on the year anniversary of my mum’s second liver transplant.

“I’ll never be able to explain how lucky I feel to have both of my parents still here with me. Please sign up to the register to save other people’s parents, children and friends.”

There are currently 276,852 people on the Organ Donor Register in Oxfordshire but the NHSBT said it needs many more.

Director of organ donation and transplantation Sally Johnson said hospitals cannot hope to save more lives unless there is a “revolution” in attitudes towards organ donation.

She said: “We need everyone to talk about organ donation with their families and agree to donate if ever they are asked. Tell those closest to you now if you want to donate your organs and record that decision by joining the people from Oxfordshire who are already on the register.”

HOW TO SIGN UP

THERE is currently an opt-in system in the UK, whereby doctors offer patients the opportunity to add their name to the organ donation register. 

The most referrals are through the DVLA website. 

If you want to sign up and become a donor, there are a number of ways you can join the register, including: 

* Completing an online form at www.organdonation.nhs.uk 
* Filling out a form available in GP surgeries and hospitals
* Calling the free NHS Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23 (lines are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year)
* Texting SAVE to 62323
* When applying online for a driving licence or vehicle tax
* When registering online for a European Health Insurance Card