Transplant Recipients Urge Festival-Goers To Back Organ Donation, UK

Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 02 Aug 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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As thousands of people head to the Isle of Wight for this year's Cowes Week two fellow sailing enthusiasts are asking them to show their support for organ donation.

Jacqueline Dowding and Tineke Blanchard are transplant recipients whose operations have enabled them to continue their love affairs with the sea. Now the pair hope that their experiences will encourage regatta-goers at Cowes to join the NHS Organ Donor Register and pledge to donate their organs after death.

Kidney recipient Jacqueline, 48, is a veteran of the gruelling Fastnet race, having competed in 1989, just two years after successfully undergoing her operation. She had been diagnosed with a hereditary kidney disorder after she donated blood and nurses told her that her levels of haemoglobin were low.

"I have a rare tissue type, but luckily I was only on the waiting list for about 18 months. Facing the unknown, and not knowing what direction your life is going to take, certainly makes you want to do more and get the most you can out of every day," said Jacqueline, from aboard her own 31ft sailing boat in Brighton marina.

"Being on top of the waves is magical, you feel so free. I have sailed down to Africa and crossed the Atlantic. I arrived here on my boat from the Baltic over two years ago and am currently planning my next voyage. I have already experienced so many wonderful places because of the ocean. It's my life.

"Having a transplant not only gave me a new zest for life, but made me appreciate just how important organ donation is. Although my mother died from kidney failure, my brother, like myself has also been lucky enough to be a transplant recipient. I wouldn't have done half the things I have if it hadn't been for the fact I had a transplant. It's the reason I have all my wonderful memories and have done so much in life."

Jacqueline had been hoping to take part in this year's Fastnet race but put those plans on hold after taking a new position with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) running its Sea Safety Roadshow across the south of England. However, having put all the groundwork in place, she plans to enter the race in 2009.

Exmouth resident Tineke Blanchard is one of the country's longest surviving heart and lung transplant patients and a regular competitor in competitions around the South West in her 30ft racing yacht. Tineke caught the sailing bug in the mid-1990s while working for the charity Heartline where she helped organise sailing day trips for children with heart conditions through Gentle Adventures, a Lymington based organisation.

In 1988 she had been given just six months to live before undergoing a life-saving heart and lung transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Then in 1996 her kidneys failed and she was listed for transplant, eventually receiving a new kidney when her mother became a live donor in 1998.

"I have developed a real passion for sailing and now spend as much time as I can skippering my 30-foot Nicholson. I get so excited that I start checking the weather forecast the night before to plan my tactics for the next day.

"I often think about the woman who donated her heart and lungs to me, and her family of course, and I am very grateful to them. If I live an honourable and useful life I feel I am paying them back for their gift."

UK Transplant spokesman Hywel Lloyd said: "Sailing and yachting can be physically demanding activities but as both Jacqueline and Tineke have proven over the years, having a transplant operation is no barrier to a life on the waves.

"We are asking all competitors in this year's regatta who support organ donation to demonstrate their commitment by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register and discussing their wishes with their families."

People can join the NHS Organ Donor Register by visiting UK Transplant's website at http://www.uktransplant.org.uk.

1. The NHS Organ Donor Register is a confidential database operated by UK Transplant that contains the names of more than 14.4 million individuals who wish to pass on the gift of life through organ donation after their death. This figure represents approximately 24% 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. The Human Tissue Act 2004 makes clear that the wishes of the deceased must be put first and where an individual has expressed a wish to donate by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register, carrying a donor card or verbally or in writing to a friend or family member, NHS staff will do all they can to ensure those wishes are fulfilled.

2. 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 3,000 transplants can be performed each year. More than 400 patients die each year while waiting.

3. 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.

http://www.uktransplant.org.uk

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