I want to say thank you to all media organisations in this country for the publicity given to two particular matters over the last few years.
More than 8,000 people throughout Great Britain are desparately waiting for an organ transplant that will save or transform their lives, quite a few of them children. The number of people on the organ donor register has increased last year again by m
ore than 750,000 and hopefully will go up again this year. It is a sad fact that three people die every day waiting for a transplant. Since March 2001 more than 23,000 organ transplants have been performed, plus 15,000 cornea transplants. Hopefully within two years, Wales could well be the first country in the UK to bring in presumed consent to organ donation.
But what I would like to keep asking your readers to think seriously about joining the NHS organ donor register. You can find out more about this subject by looking at the website www.uktransplant.org.uk.
The Anthony Nolan Trust and other bone marrow transplant registers are always looking for people to join their registers. It is a sad fact that many people throughout the world who are diagnosed with illnesses such as leukaemia, aplastic anaemia and immune deficiencies and after chemotherapy their last hope is a bone marrow transplant from a donor whose blood is compatible with their own.
TheAnthony Nolan trust is looking for anybody between 18 and 43 who is willing to give a small drop of blood and join its bone marrow register. The more people who join registers the more people can be saved from these terrible illnesses.
David Stuart Ball
balldavidstuart@aol.co.uk
