Planning and Organising for National Transplant Week
There are ideas for planning and organising events on www.thetransplanttrust.org.uk with a special fundraising pack available to download and advice about obtaining sponsorship, creating publicity and budgeting for the event.
A total of 2,382 people received organ transplants from April 2009 to February 2010 – with 2,497 cornea transplants.
One donor can save the life of several people, or restore the sight of two others – but it’s not only organs that have to be donated, as there is also a shortage of bone marrow, tissues, cord blood and platelets.
Figures for transplant success rates are improving all the time, with over 81% of heart transplants, 93% of liver transplants, 96% of transplants using kidneys donated after death, and 77% of lung transplants surviving the critical first year.
National Transplant Week – Awareness and Education
National Transplant Week is run by The Transplant Trust, the leading UK Transplant Charity, and aims to raise awareness and educate the public about the benefits of organ and tissue donation.
Running from 4th July to 11th July 2010 a wide range of high-profile events take place throughout the week, with information, educational materials and merchandise available in an orchestrated drive to stimulate discussion and interest in organ transplant.
The week also features regularly in the media, newspapers, radio and TV: personal case studies are often highlighted by the press and give much needed publicity to the campaign.
Often high profile people sign up to be an organ donor in public. Stands and displays are organised throughout the country, and the Donor Bus is a frequent sight on city streets, manned by a team who are often themselves the recipients of transplants, who hand out balloons and freebies and encourage people to become donors.
National Transplant Week – Events and Games
National Transplant Week works closely with the World Transplant Games, the largest organ donor awareness event in the world, featuring a nine-day series of sporting events when UK athletes join others from some 55 countries, all of whom have undergone an organ transplant.
There are plenty of opportunities for people to get involved in awareness events including national campaigns and networking on the high street and at a local level.
The Transplant Trust relies on money raised by a dedicated team of supporters and volunteers throughout the country.
Planning and hosting a fundraising event is a rewarding way of helping in the vital work and can be fun too.
Signing Up for National Transplant Week
However there is still a chronic shortage of donated organs, with over 10,000 people on the waiting list.
Of these, more than 1,000 people die every year before they receive the transplant they need: with more awareness and prior discussion this situation could be improved, as forty per cent of relatives refuse permission for loved one’s organs to be donated mainly because they don’t know what their wishes were.
The good news is that a record number of people are now signing up with 16,932,946 people currently on the Organ Donor Register.
National Transplant Week – 4th July to 11th July 2010
When the parents of five-year-old Lucy Pearson were told that their daughter, who was born with a complex congenital heart condition, would not benefit from further surgery and that they should try to enjoy the remaining years they had with her, they refused to accept defeat.
Lucy was put on the transplant register in late 2005 and a suitable donor was found the following year.
Since then, Lucy has made a remarkable recovery and is able to live life to the full, doing all the things a healthy young person enjoys like running, swimming, riding and eating proper food. “We realise that none of this would have been possible without the fantastic gift that some selfless person and their family have given me,” Lucy told the Transplant Trust, “We can never thank these people enough. Words cannot express how my parents feel.”
Lucy is just one of the thousands of people who survive thanks to the forethought and generosity of transplant donors, but there are many more on the waiting lists who will die before a suitable match is found.
If you want to save a life after your death, it’s possible to register online at www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call the NHS Organ Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23. Lines are open 24 hours.
External Links:
The Transplant Trust
NHS Organ Donation