Ten people have died in the Burton and South Derbyshire area while waiting for an organ transplant, shock figures have revealed.
NHS Blood and Transplant organisation revealed the tragic number of deaths to mark Organ Donation Week, which starts on Monday, September 4, and runs until Sunday, September 10, and is now urging people to tell their families they want to become donors.
In South Derbyshire four people died, while six people living in East Staffordshire also died, all while needing a transplant.
It comes as a total of 16 people have died in the last 10 years in South Staffordshire and 12 in North East Derbyshire, the figures show.
A total of 107 people living in Staffordshire as a whole have died and 78 people in Derbyshire, with 126 in Leicestershire.
The chance to offer hundreds of life saving transplants are being missed every year because families don’t know what their relative wanted when they die. Left to make the decision for someone they love, families often decide it is safer to say no, a spokesman for the NHS Blood and Transplant Service said.
The reluctance to talk about the issue is contributing to a deadly shortage of organs, he said.
Anthony Clarkson, assistant director of organ donation and transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "It's a tragedy that people are dying unnecessarily every year in Burton and South Derbyshire waiting for transplants.
"We know that if everyone who supported donation talked about it and agreed to donate, most of those lives would be saved. This Organ Donation Week, tell your family you want to save lives. A few words now can make an extraordinary difference. It will also make things much easier for your family to make the right decision.
"If you want to save lives, don’t leave it too late to talk to your family. In Derbyshire there are more than 372,000 people on the NHS Organ Donor Register. However, if you want to be a donor, your family’s support is still needed for donation to go ahead.
"If you are unsure about donation, please ask yourselves as a family; what would you do if one of you needed a transplant? Would you accept a life-saving organ? If you’d take an organ, shouldn't you be prepared to donate?"
NHS Blood and Transplant surveys show more than 80 per cent of people support organ donation but only around 49 per cent of people have ever talked about it. Research also shows that women are 30 per cent more likely to start a conversation about organ donation than men.
Families who agree to donate say it helps with their grief and that they feel enormous sense of pride at knowing their relative gave others the chance of a new beginning.
To support Organ Donation Week visit here
What is organ donation?
Organ donation is giving an organ to help someone who needs a transplant.
Transplants can save or greatly enhance the lives of other people. But this relies on donors and their families agreeing to donate their organ.
There are three different ways to donate.
1. Brain stem death: This is where a person no longer has activity in their brain stem due to a severe brain injury. They have permanently lost the potential for consciousness and the capacity to breathe. This may happen even when a ventilator is keeping the person's heart beating and oxygen is circulated through their blood.
2. Circulatory death: Is the irreversible loss of function of the heart and lungs after a cardiac arrest from which the patient cannot or should not be resuscitated. It can also be the planned withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from a patient within the Intensive Care Unit or the Emergency Department.
3. Living donation: While you are still alive you can choose to donate a kidney, a small section of your liver, discarded bone from a hip or knee replacement and also your amniotic membrane (placenta).
Consent
Doctors only use organs from a donor with their consent or with their family’s consent after they die. People can give their consent by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register, or telling a relative or close friend about their decision to donate.
Everyone can join the NHS Organ Donor Register regardless of age, as long as they are legally capable of making the decision, and live in the UK.
Medical conditions
Having a medical condition does not always prevent you from becoming an organ donor. At death, a qualified doctor responsible for your care will decide whether some or all organs are suitable for transplant.
But, there are a few conditions that will exclude you from donating organs.
You cannot become an organ donor if you have HIV, although in some circumstances people with HIV can donate to another person who already has HIV, or Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), or cancer that has spread in the last 12 months.
What is tissue donation?
The majority of those who join the NHS Organ Donor Register choose to donate all their organs. However, you can also choose to donate your tissues.
Tissue donation can improve the lives of many people through tissue grafts. Most people who are unable to donate their organs when they die can usually be tissue donors.
Which tissues can I donate?
Cornea. This is used to help restore sight to people with cornea problems caused by eye disease, injury, or birth defects. Disease or injury can make the cornea cloudy or distorted, causing vision loss.
Heart valves
Heart valves can be transplanted to save the lives of children born with heart defects and adults with damaged heart valves.
Skin
Donated skin can be used as a natural dressing to help treat people with serious burns by stopping infections and to reduce scarring and reduce pain.
Bone
Donated bone can be used for people receiving artificial joint replacements. It can also replace bone that has been removed due to illness or injury and help reduce pain and improve mobility.
Tendons
Tendons attach bones and muscles to each other and donated tendons can be used to help rebuild damaged joints.
Some people may be able to donate other tissues for special operations or for research.
Consent
Tissue from a donor will only be used with their consent or with their family’s consent after they die. People can give their consent by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register, or telling a relative or close friend about their decision to donate.
Everyone can join the NHS Organ Donor Register regardless of age, as long as they are legally capable of making the decision, and live in the UK.
Further information
Contact the National Referral Centre on 0800 432 0559 (freephone) or email tissue.donation@nhsbt.nhs.uk
What can I donate?
A donation can help someone when their organs are not working properly and they need a transplant.
You can donate, kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, pancreas, small bowel, corneas and tissue.
How to become a donor
You can choose which organs you would want to donate by ticking the specific box on the NHS Organ Donor Register, or by letting your family and friends know what you want to donate
Thousands of people in the UK are waiting for an organ transplant. Some will never receive that call to hospital for their transplant and will die due to a shortage of people willing to donate their organs.
Deciding to donate your organs is a generous and worthwhile decision that can save lives. Don't choose not to register as a donor because of false information, said a spokesman.
Donation myths
Here are some of the myths surrounding organ donation and answers from a spokesman for the transplant team:
Myth: Doctors might not do their best to save my life if they know I am on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
Answer: It is always the priority of the treating medical team to save a patient’s life. It is only when the treating medical team in the hospital and the family have accepted that no further treatment can help, and it is not in the patient’s best interest, that 'end of life' care choices are considered. Organ donation as an 'end of life' care choice will then be discussed with a family.
Myth: People could still be alive when their organs are removed.
Answer: Organs can be donated as a living donor but this is not the type of organ donation we are discussing. Organ donation from a person who has died is called deceased organ donation. There are strict criteria in place in the United Kingdom for the diagnosis of death. Organs are never removed until the patient’s death has been confirmed in line with these criteria.
In the United Kingdom we determine death in two ways – either confirmation of brain stem death or circulatory death. Brain stem death is confirmed and diagnosed by a series of clinical tests performed twice by two senior doctors.
Myth: Organ donation is against my religion
Answer: The major religions in the UK support the idea of organ donation and transplantation. These religions include, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism. If you're unsure of your faith's position on donation, ask your religious leader or teacher.
Myth: Donation will leave my body disfigured and I won’t be able to have an open-casket funeral.
Answer: The donor is treated with the utmost care and respect during the removal of organs and/or tissue for donation. Specialist healthcare professionals will make sure you are treated with dignity and respect.
We carefully close and cover the surgical incision after donation as in any other surgical procedure. The arrangements for a viewing of a loved one’s body after donation are the same as after a death where donation doesn’t take place.
Organ and tissue donation doesn't stop people from having an open-casket funeral. The body is clothed for burial, so there are no visible signs of organ or tissue donation.
Myth: I’m too old for my organs to be donated.
Answer: Patients who die in circumstances where they may be able to donate their organs, irrespective of age are considered individually. Whether or not someone’s organs can be safely used to help others is assessed at the time through a number of assessments. Information from the patient’s clinical and social history is also considered from medical records and the person’s next of kin.
We encourage everyone who supports organ donation, regardless of their age, to sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register and to talk to their family about their wishes.
Myth: You only need organs from adults.
Answer: Organs from children are needed too. None of us want to contemplate the death of a loved one, least of all a child. Sadly some children do die and the decision to donate has provided some comfort to whole families, knowing their child went on to help others. While some organs from adult donors can be transplanted to children, organs such as heart and lungs need to be matched on size. This may mean babies and young children can have a prolonged wait for heart or lung transplants.
Myth: There are enough organ donors so you don’t need me.
Answer: Around three people die every day across the United Kingdom in need of a life-saving organ transplant.
Only one in 100 people across the UK die in circumstances where their organs can be considered for transplantation. This means every potential donor is of vital importance. If more people join the NHS Organ Donor Register and talk to their families and ask them to support their decision to be a donor, more lives will be saved, as more families will agree to support their loved one’s decision to donate.
Myth: I can’t donate as I have a medical condition.
Answer: Very few medical conditions automatically disqualify you from donating.
Medical professionals will assess if your organs and/or tissue could be transplanted based on clinical and medical criteria. Certain organs and/or tissue may not be suitable for transplantation, but others may save or transform lives. If you would like to leave a lasting legacy, join the NHS Organ Donor Register and tell your family your decision, regardless of your age or medical history.
Myth: I’ve had cancer so can’t donate my organs
Answer: Organs from deceased donors with some current and past cancers may be safely used. Transplanting surgeons balance the risk of using an organ against the risk of a patient dying waiting for a transplant.
I am on the organ donation register
Reporter Helen Kreft is on the organ donation register. She said: "I know it can be a hard decision for any relative to donate your organs following your death but I have joined the register so my relatives are never asked that question. And someone will be able to live a normal life thanks to me, and my death.
"I always remember a drawing which encourages people to join the register. It is of a little boy lying dead in a grave, holding on to his heart with a note saying; 'No, you cannot have my organs.' Standing above the grave, and clearly alive, is another little boy who is very ill and in need of a transplant. His expression at being told he cannot have his organ still sits with me.
"While it is awful to think about the boy in the grave no longer needs his organs but there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other little boys who desperately need help. It is so easy to join the register."
