Be A Superhero - Save A Life, UK Transplant

Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 15 Aug 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Music lovers going to this summer's V Festivals are being given the chance to become a 'superhero' and pledge to save a life by signing up as an organ donor.

For the first time, the UK Transplant 'Superhero' roadshow will be at both festival venues to encourage music fans to join the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR).

The two-day V Festivals are being staged at Weston Park in Staffordshire and Hylands Park near Chelmsford in Essex on Saturday and Sunday, 16 and 17 August.

Organ donation supporters include the Stereophonics bass player, Richard Jones, who will be playing with the group at the festivals. The roadshow will explain to festival-goers how donating organs can transform and often save people's lives.

Visitors to UK Transplant's stand will be invited to become 'caped crusaders' for organ donation. While they will not have to leap over tall buildings, they can learn how signing up as an organ donor means they could one day save a life.

UK Transplant marketing and campaigns manager, Angie Burton, said: "We're asking V Festival visitors to join the 15.6 million other 'superheroes' who have already joined the ODR and to discuss their wishes with their families.

"More than 7,800 people in the UK are currently waiting for an organ transplant and the sad fact is that over 1,000 of them will die while waiting due to an acute shortage of donors.

"Young people are fantastic supporters of organ donation; 30% of people on the register were aged between 16 and 25 when they joined.

"We are hoping that lots of festival-goers will visit the UK Transplant stand, have a go at being a Superhero, and sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register and pledge to give the gift of life."

Festival-goers will also be able to find out about http://www.superhero-me.co.uk, a fun new viral game with a serious message about organ donation, developed as part of UK Transplant's festival campaign for 2008.

Angie added: "Taking the superhero theme of the campaign, the game gives users the opportunity to upload their picture to make themselves a superhero and pass the results onto friends and family.

"It is designed to be fun with a serious message that we hope people will pass on. Everyone can be a superhero and save a life by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register. Superhero-me means they can also make themselves look like one!"

Last year, 3,239 people received the gift of life through organ donation, while a further 2,489 had their sight restored through a cornea transplant.

Today, there are 7,884 people registered for an organ transplant, including 182 aged under 18.

To find out more about organ donation and to join the NHS Organ Donor Register, please text the word 'LIVE' to 64118 (standard text rates apply), call the Organ Donor Line on 0845 60 60 400 or visit http://www:uktransplant.org.uk.

Did you know?

1. You are more likely to need a transplant than to become an organ donor.

2. Research show that 90% of the UK population supports organ donation.

3. Black people are three times as likely as the general population to develop kidney failure, which can lead to the need for a transplant.

4. A donor can donate their heart, lungs, two kidneys, pancreas, liver and can restore the sight of two people by donating their corneas.

5. Donors can also give tissue such as skin, heart valves and tendons and bone. Skin grafts have helped people with severe burns and bone is used in orthopaedic surgery.

6. Traditionally, organ donors have come from two groups: road accident and brain haemorrhage patients. Improved road safety and medical intervention mean that fewer people in both groups are dying.

7. The number of living kidney donations has more than trebled since 1995 and now account for one in three of all kidney transplants.

8. The NHS Organ Donor Register is a confidential database operated by UK Transplant that contains the names of more than 15.6 million people who wish to pass on the gift of life through organ donation after their death. This figure represents 25% of the total UK population. The register can be accessed by authorised medical staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to establish an individual's wishes for donation.

9. The Human Tissue Act 2004 makes clear that the wishes of the deceased must be put first and where a person has expressed a wish to donate by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register, carrying a donor card or verbally or in writing to a family member or friend, NHS staff will do all they can to ensure those wishes are fulfilled.

10. More than 9,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant to save or dramatically improve their lives but the shortage of donors means that just over 3,000 transplants can be performed each year. More than 1,000 patients die each year while waiting. (Although, 7,884 people are currently actively registered for a transplant, up to 2,000 others are also on the waiting list but are suspended for a variety of reasons).

11. UK Transplant is the NHS organisation responsible for matching and allocating donated organs. It is part of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), a Special Health Authority within the NHS that manages the National Blood Service, Bio Products Laboratory and UK Transplant.

UK Transplant