More than 6,000 people – including 270 kids – in the UK have died waiting for an organ transplant in the last ten years, NHS figures have revealed.
Patients in desperate need of organs have had to wait years. But registering as a donor takes minutes.
There are currently around 7,000 UK patients on transplant waiting list – 30 per cent have been waiting more than two years. More than 500 of them have been waiting longer than five years – that’s more than 1,800 days each.
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The NHS has launched a heart-wrenching campaign that captures a day in the life of patient Simon Howell, 41, his wife Anita, also 41, and their children Sarah, eight, and James, three.
Born with a serious kidney condition, renal dysplasia, Simon had his first kidney transplant in 2005 thanks to his mum offering to be a living donor. Unfortunately, in 2009, the kidney failed. Simon was added to the transplant waiting list for a new kidney and has been waiting longer than six years already.
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Simon allowed cameras to record the reality of just one of the many days he has spent waiting for a suitable organ to highlight just how difficult life is on the transplant waiting list.
Simon’s day is dominated by his illness. He has four life-saving sessions of dialysis, indescribable fatigue and constant uncertainty for the future as he and his family live in hope that a suitable donor organ will become available.
The waiting list pandemic
Across the UK on 1st October 2015 there were 6,856 people on the waiting list for a transplant, including:
• 5,400 people on the waiting list for a kidney and 481 of them had already waited longer than five years. An adult waits 1,022 days and a child 316 days on average for a kidney transplant.
• 267 people on a waiting list for a heart transplant and 46 of them had already been waiting 3 years. An adult waits 1,033 days and a child 357 for a non-urgent heart transplant.
• 349 people on the waiting list for a lung transplant. The average wait for an adult is 233 days. Of the patients who waited for a lung transplant in the last 10 years, more than a quarter died while waiting.
• 587 people on the waiting list for a liver transplant, 129 of whom had been waiting longer than a year. An adult waits on average 137 days and a child 74 days.
Simon said: ‘I’ve been on dialysis for five years. For me, it’s the most difficult part of the wait. Dialysis keeps me alive whilst I wait for a transplant; but that’s all it does. I’m in limbo.
‘My family and I are on a roller coaster and like a roller coaster, I can’t see the twists and turns or how it will end. But a transplant would completely transform my health and all our lives.
‘Waiting for a transplant is not like waiting for anything else. You don’t necessarily get nearer to the top of the list the longer you’ve been on it. It depends on many factors including who is in greatest need and who is the best match for an organ. It’s an endless wait with no ETA.’
Sally Johnson, NHS Blood and Transplant director of organ donation and transplantation said: ‘Simon’s journey has already been a long and difficult one and while we are doing everything we can to make sure he gets the transplant he needs, the NHS cannot do this without help from other people.
‘Sadly though, Simon is not alone. Statistically, more than one in ten people on the waiting list will die before they get the transplant they need. For some organs, the picture is significantly bleaker. More than one in four people waiting for lungs will die.
‘I’d ask you to imagine how you’d feel if someone close to you was waiting for a transplant; their whole life on hold, hoping someone will donate to save them. I’m sure we’d all hope an organ would be available to help someone we love – so shouldn’t we all pledge to be organ donors so more lives can be saved?
‘If you haven’t told those closest to you that you want to be an organ donor, then please do it today. Tell them you want to be an organ donor and record your decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.’
To join the NHS Organ Donor Register please go to organdonation.nhs.ukor call 0300 123 23 23 – now is the #TimeToSign.
NHS Blood and Transplant’s film ‘The Wait’ is being shown at Vue Piccadilly, London on Friday November 20 from 7.30am until 9.30pm.
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