The O Project

Only 23% of the population have joined the NHS Organ Donor Register and there is now a desperate need for more donors. In 2006 more than 400 people died while waiting for a transplant. One in ten people waiting for a heart transplant will die and many others will lose their lives before they even get on to the waiting list.

Humanists believe that we only have one life and that we should make the best of it; living happy and fulfilled lives and helping others to do so. But clearly this doesn’t need to stop when we do. Organ and Tissue donation are an important example of how scientific developments can directly improve and even save thousands of people’s lives every year.

The O Project is therefore encouraging people to take the simple step of joining the NHS Organ Donor Register and other similar activities.

Give

1. The first thing you can do is sign up to the Organ Donor Register. There are lots of ways you can do this:

• By adding your details online on the - UK Transplant website 
• By telephoning the Organ Donor Line on 0845 60 60 400
• When completing a driving licence application form
• When registering with a new doctor or GP's surgery
• When applying for a Boots Advantage Card
• When applying for a new passport, using the leaflet enclosed with the application form
• When registering for a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), using the leaflet enclosed with the application form

2. You could also donate your body to medical science

The education and training of medical professionals, as well as biomedical research, benefit from the generosity of those who donate bodies for use after their death. People who donate their body contribute in a vital way to training by medical schools and such donations are highly valued by staff and students alike.

If you wish to donate your body for medical education training or research you must be over 18 and you should make your wishes known in writing (and witnessed) before you die, and inform your next of kin. Find out more from the Human Tissue Authority.

3. You can also help others before you die! How about registering as a bone marrow donor?

Bone marrow or stem cell transplants are necessary when the bone marrow becomes diseased or damaged so that it can't function normally. Sometimes the damage to the bone marrow is a result of treatment for leukaemia or a related cancer of the blood. In order to destroy all the leukaemia cells it may be necessary to use treatment so strong that it completely destroys the bone marrow, in which case a bone-marrow or stem cell transplant must be given to restore blood cell production. Without the stem cells to produce blood the patient will not survive.

If you are aged 18-49 you can find out more by filling in this form

4. And you can also give blood of course.

Book and Appointment or find out more through the National Blood Service

Tell

5. Once you have signed up to give something don't forget to tell others

It's always important to be senstive to other's wishes but if only 20% of the population are on the Organ Donor Register, while surveys show that as many as 70% of people wanted to donate their organs after death, principled opposition does not appear to be the biggest reason for not signing up.

If you are on social networkign site Facebook, simple ways to show your support are joining the Be an Organ Donor group an installing the Organ Donor application.

Campaign

6. You can petition the government to move from an opt-out to an opt-in organ donation system

England's chief medical officer has argued recently that everyone should be seen as a potential organ donor on their death unless they expressly request not to be (often referred to as an opt-out system). The move has been welcomed by transplant campaigners and been endorsed by the British Medical Association (BMA).

Sir Liam Donaldson wants a system of "presumed consent" to be introduced in England to tackle organ shortages. Because so many people die in a manner which makes them unsuitable donors, the pool of potential donors must be substantially larger than the numbers waiting for organs - currently nearly 8,400. But the gap between the number of people coming onto the waiting list and those coming off after receiving successful transplants was widening all the time.

You can read more about some of the arguments for and against introducing an opt-out situation in the UK here.

If you are in favour of an opt out system you can petition the Prime Minister (closes 24 November 2007) and join the Facebook group supporting this cause.

In the UK between 1 April 2006 and 31 March 2007:

• 3,086 organ transplants were carried out, thanks to the generosity of 1,495 donors.
• 949 lives were saved in the UK through a heart, lung, liver or combined heart/lungs, liver/kidney, liver/pancreas or heart/kidney transplant
• At the end of March 2007, 7,234 patients were listed as actively waiting for a transplant.

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