Lil Miss Busy: What's been happening...

Hi guys! Sorry about the lack of blog posts lately! I've just handed in my dissertation, and generally been really busy with university work! 

One of the biggest things that has happened this year is that my dad had a kidney transplant on Saturday 17th March!)

My dad has been on the waiting list for seven years. So for seven whole years, he had to do manual dialysis four times a day, not drink much water, not eat vegetables and fruits and so on!

The donor (who unfortunately passed away) has given a whole new lease of life to my father. My dad's life expectancy has increased, and his quality of life has improved.

I know this blog post is quite personal, compared to most of my posts, but I feel strongly about organ donation. Hopefully this post will save a few people's live!

What is organ donation?

Organ donation is the gift of an organ to help someone who needs a transplant.

How do you become an organ donor? 

You can fill in this form, or you can join when you are: 

• Registering for a driving licence
• Applying for a Boots Advantage card
• Registering at a GP surgery
• Registering for a European Health Insurance card 

 What is the NHS Organ Donor Register?

 

The NHS Organ Donor Register is, quite literally, a life-saver. It is a confidential, computerised database which holds the wishes of more than 16 million people who have decided that, after their death, they want to leave a legacy of life for others. The register is used to help establish whether a person wanted to donate and, if so, what.

Here are some statistics:

In the UK between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011:

• 3,740 organ transplants were carried out, thanks to the generosity of 2,055 donors.
• 1,008 lives were saved in the UK through a heart, lung, liver or combined heart/lungs, liver/kidney, liver/pancreas or heart/kidney transplant.
• 2,732 patients' lives were dramatically improved by a kidney or pancreas transplant, 156 of whom received a combined kidney/pancreas transplant.
• A further 3,564 people had their sight restored through a cornea transplant.
• A record number of 567 non-heart beating donor kidney transplants took place and accounted for one in five of all kidney transplants.
• 1,045 living donor kidney transplants were carried out accounting for more than a third of all kidney transplants. 'Non-directed' living donor transplants (also known as altruistic donor transplants) and paired and pooled donations contributed more than 60 kidney transplants between them.
• Almost 675,000 more people pledged to help others after their death by registering their wishes on the NHS Organ Donor Register, bringing the total to 17,751,795 (March 2011). 

You can read more about organ donation here.

Picture source