Can you give the gift of longer life this Christmas by donating an organ?

The Oxford Mail is backing the Life Saver Campign launched by a group of medics to get more people to sign up to be donors.

And today the NHS Blood and Transplant service launched its Christmas List campaign to draw attention to the thousands of people across the country in need of an organ.

It revealed there were 51 people in Oxfordshire on the organ transplant waiting list over the festive period but only 42 per cent of people in the county are registered as donors The Life Saver campaign was set up by doctors, nurses and medical students from across Oxford who were concerned by the number waiting to receive an organ.

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One of its founders, Dr Amy Allen, said she hoped helping people find out more about the reality of donation would prompt them to sign up to the register.

The 24-year-old junior doctor said: “Nationally more than 95 per cent of people would accept an organ but only one in three are on the register. There are a lot of misconceptions about it, so part of our event is about letting people come along and find out more.

“We are not affiliated with anyone, we do not have political or NHS affiliations. We just felt that the public were not aware and we wanted to create a forum for them to find out and ask some questions.”

Dr Ruchir Mashar, right, with Dr Kate Brady, Dr Andy Catton and Dr Hannah Oliver promoting the campaign

Life Saver hosts events where people with an experience of organ donation, whether as donors, recipients or family members of deceased donors or people who have passed away while waiting for a transplant, speak about the process.

Organisers hope it will challenge some of the misconceptions of donation and get more people to sign up.

Across the United Kingdom, 4,655 transplants were carried out between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014, including 43 people in Oxfordshire. In the same period 1,320 people died while waiting for a transplant.

Dr Allen said: “You can donate your heart and lungs separately, you can donate your pancreas, kidneys, liver, bowel.

“If something awful happened to you it could help to save the lives of five or six people.

“We are all about education and there is no judgment if people do not want to sign up.

“It will be really good if we can increase public interest and education.”

Founder and Headington trainee doctor Dr Ruchir Mashar, who works in Aylesbury, said: “We want to raise awareness through organising events. One of the important things that research has shown is it is something that doesn’t get discussed very much.

“As a consequence, people who are on the register, their wish is unknown to their families.”

The group held its first event at Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy in St Aldate’s on November 29 and it is hoped this will be the first step towards increasing the number of people registered as donors.

To sign up to the register, visit organdonation.nhs.uk To find out more about Life Saver, visit facebook.com/ events/315719235303397

New kidney has given father a chance to spend time with son

Filameno Cotaz with his wife Nahid and six-year-old son Kieron

Cutteslowe barman Filameno Cotaz got involved with Life Saver following his recovery from a kidney transplant in August.
The 39-year-old was diagnosed with kidney failure resulting from high blood pressure in November 2013 and had to start working night shifts so he could attend dialysis during the day.
The father-of-one said the transplant had allowed him to spend more time with his 
six-year-old son Kieron.
He said: “It is because of the kind person who did what they did and signed up for the register that I can live like this.
“He did not want to die but he made a selfless decision.
“After you are dead you do not need your organs so it is doing it for someone who is waiting for it.Since my transplant I have been very well and I am doing everything normally.
“Now I have more freedom because I am not on dialysis.”
Mr Cotaz, who lives in Kendall Close with wife Nahid, said he hoped he could encourage others to sign up.
He said: “I will speak about how I felt waiting for a transplant and what I could and could not do before I had the transplant.
“You never know who might need your organs in the end.”

OPT IN VERSUS OPT OUT

The United Kingdom currently has an opt-in organ system, which means people have to sign up to the register in order for their organs to be donated after death
When someone signed up to the organ donation register passes away, their relatives will be asked to confirm that they had not changed their mind before death
But some countries have an opt-in system, which means people are presumed to have given their consent to donate their organs unless they have requested 
otherwise
Wales is set to move to this system in December 2015 and the Welsh Assembly said it hoped it would raise the number of donors by 25 per cent.
The issue remains controversial both in Wales and the rest of the UK with opposition from some religious groups.

HOW DONATION CAN SAVE LIVES

ONE donor can transform up to nine lives and many more can be helped through the donation of tissue
Deceased donors can donate their liver, heart, lungs, small bowel, pancreas, corneas (the transparent layer at the front of the eye), bones, skin, heart valves, tendons and cartilage
Both living and deceased donors can donate kidneys, with living donors able to donate one and still have normal kidney function.

HOW TO SIGN UP

The organ donor register is free to join online, on the phone or by text. Visit organdonation.nhs.uk, call 0300 123 23 23 or text SAVE to 62323. NHS Blood and Transplant advise telling those closest to you after signing up so they know you want to donate your organs when you pass away.

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