Campaign to raise awareness of organ donation

Date published: 27 August 2008

The Mayor of Bury, Councillor Peter Ashworth, will launch Bury Council’s campaign to encourage staff to sign up to be an organ donor on 1 September.
More than 9,000 people across the UK need an organ transplant, but less than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year. There is a desperate need for more donors. Last year 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.

The campaign has been organised by Bill Crook, an Operations Supervisor at Bury Council. Bill was diagnosed with a serious Liver condition in December 2007 and in February 2008 he was told that he would only have 12 to 18 months to live without a Liver transplant.

Bill says, “Whilst I am very confident a donor will be found for me. There are many people in my position or that will be in my position in the near future that may not have a chance of finding a suitable donor organ. I decided to launch a campaign to get more people to carry donor cards and where better to start than in the work place”.

Bill will be distributing literature and promotional materials to council staff who wish to sign up to be a donor.

Local residents who are waiting for or have had a transplant, or helped and supported a family member or loved one through the transplant process to come along and explain how being a donor can help save lives.