Organ Donation Week

Friday, 22nd September marked the end of Organ Donation Week. Manchester Team celebrated it at the Handforth session. All the marketing around organ donation is pink so everyone scoured their wardrobes for pink clothing, we made a very colourful sight. One donor entered the room and thought he had walked into a Barbie convention. We were bright, we were colourful…we were very, very pink! Pink clothes, pink shoes, pink hair, pink balloons, everywhere you looked there was pink.

We had pens, pin badges and lots of information on organ donation. Organ donation is now an ‘opt out’ system. This is also known as deemed consent, or presumed consent, everyone is considered to agree to donate their organs when they die unless they record a decision not to donate. To be able to donate your organs you have to die in a hospital because the organ needs to be ready for transplant into a recipient within ninety minutes. This makes the whole process fast moving. It is also one of the reasons people need to have conversations with their families. On the death of a loved one there isn’t time for a big debate on whether someone would want or not want to donate organs. A recipient will be in a very poor state and the organ needs to be retrieved and transported to them in a short space of time for it to be successful. We talked with our blood donors about this system and the speed in which teams will move to retrieve, to transport and to transplant.

Team members and donors added a Polaroid photo to our board to show their support.

Tissue donation is slightly different. It seems to be the poor relation of donations, sadly. We tried to spread the word about it today. Most people know about blood donation, we take about a hundred bags of blood on each of our sessions. Each bag will have 470mls of blood in it and it is known to help those who have had accidents and lost a lot of blood, people who have sickle cell, cancer patients, women who have had traumatic births and for numerous other conditions.

We know that a heart transplant saves a life but not everyone knows that tissue donations improve lives immeasurably. Tissues include blood vessels, bone, cartilage, corneas, heart valves, tendons and ligaments. When asked about donations a common reply is, “Anything but my eyes,” yet it is eyes that are so sought after. When my dad died we gave consent for his tissues to be donated and they used one of his corneas in a 77year old woman. That lady will have been given the precious gift of sight and that is a wonderful legacy from my father.

To donate tissues you have to opt in. The gift of improving someone’s life is wonderful and I wish the powers that be would promote it more. So many people need to be told so that they talk as families. Sadly, it isn’t only old people who die so we need to make it an easy conversation and not one to be feared or ignored. Young people can have a say on their wishes too. Let’s talk. Let’s educate. Let’s save and improve lives.

We did our best to have conversations with donors and promote organ and tissue donations.

Reeham is happy for her organs and tissues to be used after death. As a Muslim she said it is sometimes difficult to encourage others of her faith, but she feels it is a charity that goes on and on and necessary for all faiths, including Muslims.

Sophia brought her friends along to her donation and they were all keen to support organ donation. The future is safe in the hands of generous young people like them.

Dressing up seemed to make the smiles bright on session.

Archie works in transport and he arrived half way through the day to collect the afternoon blood donations. He was only in for a short time but he agreed to having his hair sprayed pink and posing for a photo. What a good sport.

Whereas organs have to be used within ninety minutes tissues can be stored for up to five years!

It was a long day and we tried our best to get people to talk about organ and tissue donation. It isn’t the easiest conversation but the more it is promoted the more it will become one that everyone can have without being afraid of upsetting or frightening others.

At the end of the day we packed up, but our work is never done. Sadly, there is always someone who needs blood. There is always someone who needs a heart. There is always someone who can see again if only someone would consent to them having their eyes. There is always someone who has a terrible accident and breaks a bone badly…maybe they need donated bone to help them walk again. The Liverpool Tissue Bank has a store of donated skin in case of a terrorist attack or another such disaster. The list is endless.

So have conversations. Opt in to tissue donation. Register to give blood. Give the best gift you will ever give.