"Some of the people I have talked to have died while still on the waiting list. That has really brought home to me the shortage of donors. It's not just a statistic. I saw people dying for the want of organs, and they were people just like me.
"There's no way I can thank the donor's family and doctor enough, but I can raise awareness about this awful shortage of organs."
From The Scotsman in the UK:
WHEN Gill Hollis went to see a consultant four years ago she told him she didn't think she would see another Christmas. The investment banker had gone from being sporty and adventurous to virtually housebound because of a lung disease.
But – after a lifesaving transplant – she is now to appear on television urging more people to become organ donors.
The Scottish Government asked her to be one of the faces of their new campaign of one-minute films on STV.
Mrs Hollis, 43, who lives in the New Town, had suffered from lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a degenerative lung disease, for about 20 years when she spoke to her consultant in January 2004.
The disease had slowly sucked the life out of her, and by then she needed oxygen treatment round the clock and was barely able to get out of her chair.
She was put on a transplant list in July 2003 and had waited seven agonising months for a donor to come forward.
"By that stage I knew it was my only chance of survival so I was really excited when the call came through," she said.
"I'd had a false alarm before so I was hoping so much that it would go through."
The operation took place at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, one of three specialist centres in the UK and the nearest to Edinburgh. Mrs Hollis said: "I had spent a couple of years where I could not go out of the house very much. Just to be able to go to the cinema, or for dinner with friends, or play with my nephews is wonderful."
She makes time between her hectic work schedule and social life to help others who have not been as fortunate as herself, and has spoken at conferences urging people to join the register.
"I counsel people who are on the waiting list," she said.
"Some of the people I have talked to have died while still on the waiting list. That has really brought home to me the shortage of donors. It's not just a statistic. I saw people dying for the want of organs, and they were people just like me.
"There's no way I can thank the donor's family and doctor enough, but I can raise awareness about this awful shortage of organs."
About 700 people are waiting for a transplant in Scotland, and almost 8000 in the UK as a whole, many of whom will die if more donors do not come forward.
However, less than one-in-three Scots are on the register.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "The shortage of donor organs for transplantation is an increasingly acute problem and we are determined to tackle this.
"One of the greatest successes of modern medicine is organ transplantation. We only need to look at the extraordinary recent achievement of the transplant unit at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in carrying out the first living donor liver transplant.
"But that is a reflection of the steps people are having to take to compensate for the lack of organs from deceased people."
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
Your generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 through tissue donation
No comments:
Post a Comment