I carried an organ transplant Donor Card for ten years in my purse,but it got sold old and tatty,I threw it away.Anyway on t.v. tonight was a programme about people waiting for transplants,heart,liver, kidneys ,and it was heartbreaking.But one of the men waiting for a liver transplant was a recovering alchoholic,who had ruined his liver through drinking.I really wanted to start carrying a donor card again,but then I thought to myself,I really wouldnt want my liver to go to an alchoholic would you ? To anyone else yes,but how would I know who it went to ? Would my surviving relatives have a choice of where my organs went to ?

I do not carry a donor card as i sign up ages ago on that data thing so it already on computer that i want to donate for transplant.So i done my bit and dont think i need to carry one now it's all on records.

Hi dieselbabe is that the same data base where you can choose the music you want at your funeral?

ive had a donor card for about 20 years now but nobody will be wanting my kidneys now as i was diagnosed with a rare chronic kidney disease 2 years ago!!---i just hope if i get to the point of needing a transplant i can get a match!---yeah donor cards are a good thing!---i dont smoke or drink,dont abuse my body--but youre right some people dont give a dam about their health but then expect everyone to rally round when they are in a jam!!

Originally posted by Jon
Hi dieselbabe is that the same data base where you can choose the music you want at your funeral?

It's the nhs.Anything possible these days lol.

i'd get one but i doubt my organs are of much use to anybody and thats now .... by the time i carp it they'll be even more useless :rolleyes:

Originally posted by pattricia
I carried an organ transplant Donor Card for ten years in my purse,but it got sold old and tatty,I threw it away.Anyway on t.v. tonight was a programme about people waiting for transplants,heart,liver, kidneys ,and it was heartbreaking.But one of the men waiting for a liver transplant was a recovering alchoholic,who had ruined his liver through drinking.I really wanted to start carrying a donor card again,but then I thought to myself,I really wouldnt want my liver to go to an alchoholic would you ? To anyone else yes,but how would I know who it went to ? Would my surviving relatives have a choice of where my organs went to ?

If the guy is a "recovering" alcoholic, doesn't he deserve a second chance? OK, so it may not be fair that some people look after themselves and still have health problems, but not many people get addicted to drugs on purpose.

Originally posted by pattricia
I carried an organ transplant Donor Card for ten years in my purse,but it got sold old and tatty,I threw it away.Anyway on t.v. tonight was a programme about people waiting for transplants,heart,liver, kidneys ,and it was heartbreaking.But one of the men waiting for a liver transplant was a recovering alchoholic,who had ruined his liver through drinking.I really wanted to start carrying a donor card again,but then I thought to myself,I really wouldnt want my liver to go to an alchoholic would you ? To anyone else yes,but how would I know who it went to ? Would my surviving relatives have a choice of where my organs went to ?

Presumably pattricia, should you ever be in need of a transplant, you would also wish to vet the donor? Just to screen out the possibility of accepting a heart, liver or kidney from anyone on your list of undesirables?

If you donate your organs for transplantation, you do for it altruistic reasons. Don't you think that vetoing alcoholics rather negates that concept? Who next should be added to the list of alcoholics...... drug addicts, ethnic minorities, immigrants, criminals, chavs, mentally impaired, elderly, people with learning difficulties?

george best was given a second chance and hes thrown kindness back in the face of those who helped him!!---the mans a total sod!!
sorry but people like him make me so angry:rant:

Originally posted by tslogf74
If the guy is a "recovering" alcoholic, doesn't he deserve a second chance? OK, so it may not be fair that some people look after themselves and still have health problems, but not many people get addicted to drugs on purpose.

Ermm ... Like George Best??
Enough said really.

I bet the family of the person who died and provided george with his new liver is esctatic knowing that he is ruining his new one as well.

I used to, but I don't now.

There are numerous reasons. One is that I don't trust the medical profession enough to make sure I'm dead before they whip out the useful parts. :)

If I were on the donor register and ended up in some sort of PVS, then I'd not want my family being hassled to allow me to be 'switched off' so that the organs could be harvested.

There's also the lack of respect for the dead that I've personally witnessed and that has been reported in the media. In my case it was seeing my own mother being referred to as an 'it' shortly after she had died by a couple of hospital staff. On a wider basis the attitude of the medical profession towards the parents of dead children in places like Alder Hay Hospital was diabolical.

I know it makes me selfish- I do occasionally have a few qualms about it - but that's where I stand at the moment.

Joe

i have one embossed on my Boots advantage card.
they dont only take major organs,they will use retinas etc as well,so although your body may be knackered or damaged it could still be of benefit.
i did agree with the smoker being refused new lungs as well - why should they be allowed to abuse another set of organs.

once your dead your dead - u cant feel anything physically or emotionally so why not?

i ask everyone if they wish to donate whilst preparing their estate.by the time the will is read its' too late but the debate will have been adressed at the will writing stage.

I am completely with Joe on this one. I have heard too many horror stories about people carrying on breathing once the life support has been turned off and the organs have been harvested. That said I have every admiration for anyone who does carry a card.

Incidentally Patricia, Alcoholism is a disease widey thought to be genetic, and not a way of life. I hope the guy gets well soon. :thumbsup:

Originally posted by JoeP
I used to, but I don't now.

There are numerous reasons. One is that I don't trust the medical profession enough to make sure I'm dead before they whip out the useful parts. :)

If I were on the donor register and ended up in some sort of PVS, then I'd not want my family being hassled to allow me to be 'switched off' so that the organs could be harvested.




Joe

it is possible to have a living will made in advance if PVS is a genuine concern of anyone,then the drs know how to act & won't need to hassle your kin.
if u offer to donate they don't need to hassle anyone anyway 'cos they're gonna get your bits.im not trying to convert anyone just help clarify the general rule.

I don't carry a card, but that's coz they still need permission from your nearest and dearest - and they all know the position :thumbsup:

Originally posted by Kristian
I have heard too many horror stories about people carrying on breathing once the life support has been turned off and the organs have been harvested. That said I have every admiration for anyone who does carry a card.

Incidentally Patricia, Alcoholism is a disease widey thought to be genetic, and not a way of life. I hope the guy gets well soon. :thumbsup:

it is possible to "breathe" after aid has been withdrawn unfortunately like the headless chicken your still dead.
however the type of dead is debateable(lol).i think u can be brain dead & kept alive on machines or u can be dead as in not able to breathe with no brain or body activity.

Originally posted by willman
it is possible to "breathe" after aid has been withdrawn unfortunately like the headless chicken your still dead.
however the type of dead is debateable(lol).i think u can be brain dead & kept alive on machines or u can be dead as in not able to breathe with no brain or body activity.

I'm sure you're right, I'd just rather not take the chance thanks! :gag:

Well,I started the topic about Donor Cards,but now im not sure,after reading all your views. I disagree about achoholics being entitled to new liver transplants,and wont change my mind on that,but the stories about hospital staff taking your organs out while you are still breathing ,worries me,I have often wondered myself if they do that. That puts me off being a donor,but I still feel as though I need clarification on the subject from a doctor. Any doctors out there ?

I carry one - they can have anything except my eyes. For some unknown reason I don't like the idea of someone else having my eyes. Irrational as it may be, it's just the way I feel!

I don't want to be offensive but it seems like there's far too many Daily Mail readers in this thread.

At Joe, it's a hard subject dealing with dead people, especially for somebody whose job is dealing with dead people on a daily basis. While it may seem to you disrespectful referring to your mother as "it" shortly after her death (to be honest who wouldn't agree with you) sometimes it's the easist way for those in the medical profession to just deal with. I know personally that my girlfriend prefers to think of dead bodies as "objects" rather than "people" but it helps her sleep at night to think they aren't somebodies next door neighbour, mother, or father, of even offspring. It's an incredibly hard job. Maybe it wasn't the most sensitive of thing for you to hear, but it's an unfortunate fact of life, people die and people have to deal with it!

As Willman pointed out, if you're concerned draw up a living will, or as Strix pointed out, simply make sure your relatives are well aware. Everybody in my family is aware that nobody else would want to end up like that poor woman in the states during the summer (Teri?!) whose Husband knew she didn't wish to be alive, and her family attempted to keep her alive despite the fact she was totally braindead.

As for those who cite G. Best as example, for every relapsing alcoholic there's 10 who haven't relapsed. Just because the papers report about those who're doing bad, doesn't mean there are those who should be denied another chance, after all we all make mistakes.

I carry a donar card, and if any part of my body can help somebody, that's fantastic. If I die, somebody else should at least be given the second chance if I can't be.

Originally posted by pattricia
Well,I started the topic about Donor Cards,but now im not sure,after reading all your views. I disagree about achoholics being entitled to new liver transplants,and wont change my mind on that,but the stories about hospital staff taking your organs out while you are still breathing ,worries me,I have often wondered myself if they do that. That puts me off being a donor,but I still feel as though I need clarification on the subject from a doctor. Any doctors out there ?

I'm not a doctor, but it stands to reason that they have to keep you 'technically alive' while they harvest the organs otherwise they would be dead when they hit the donor!

if only we could all clone ourselves and keep the clone in a darkened room til such point we may need bits of them - the problem would be solved!!!

Gee that would make a good movie...

Thanks,Kristian,understand what you mean. Its a funny subject isnt it.

Originally posted by Kristian
I'm not a doctor, but it stands to reason that they have to keep you 'technically alive' while they harvest the organs otherwise they would be dead when they hit the donor!

There's a bit of a difference between having blood pumped around your body and being oxygenated to keep the organs alive, than actually being alive yourself.

You can't have things both ways, if the medical profession waited until you were completely dead, the organs would be worthless, and what would be the point in being a donor?

I'm a donor in the knowledge that if the Doctors if every think I can't recover I'd like to be denied food & water (just like Mo Mowlam), and I'd like ANY part of my body to be used to help save somebodies life, as soon as possible. But I DO NOT want to be used to aid medical research. The idea of being cut up by first year medical students, 3 years after I've died and having been soaked in Formaldehyde just disgusts me. :gag:

BTW, if any doctors ever have any doubts, do a google for Hook and this posts serves as notice! :clap:

Alcoholism is a disease.

There are to my knowledge at least two recovering alcoholics on Sheffield Forum. One has posted about his time in rehab, his lapses, and his latest attempts at rehab. Many forum members posted their best wishes for success. I know that he gained strength from the support of fellow forummers, many of whom also sent him personal PMs.

pattricia - can I ask why are you being so judgemental towards alcoholics? Why do you state -

"I disagree about achoholics being entitled to new liver transplants,and wont change my mind on that" ?

Originally posted by Hook
There's a bit of a difference between having blood pumped around your body and being oxygenated to keep the organs alive, than actually being alive yourself.



When a medic comes on here and guarantees me that I won't feel pain (given that they don't anethsatise donors!), that's when I'll carry a donor card! :|

I would never ever be a card carrying organ donor, heard tooo many stories over the years, doctors arriving on the scene of the accident, looking for the donor card first, then checking out the body to see if it's still warm.

Big money in organs, i'll wait till i die in hospital or a nursing home then donate my body parts... might have to think about that twice too.:suspect:

In other words i wouldn't be seen DEAD carrying a donor card:hihi:

Up in til a year ago i was totally against the idea of carrying a donor card, I believed that my cells made me who I was, in spirit. Then I read a book called Stiff by Mary Roach, which in a totally human way explained what your body can contribute to after you've finished with it. I was completely amazed and inspired. I don't carry a card but I'm on the donor database, all of my family and close friends know that I would like to offer my bits and pieces to anyone who needs them once I've gone, then with what's left is going to science. If I help one person live after I've gone then wow, that's amazing and you can't say that if you don't donate!

Originally posted by Kristian
When a medic comes on here and guarantees me that I won't feel pain (given that they don't anethsatise donors!), that's when I'll carry a donor card! :|

they cant guarantee you anything 'cos when your time comes it might not be the same medic, it could be an evil vindictive one that wants to see u suffer.
if u are in an accident prior then u will receive some form of meds "to make you comfortable", usually to help u & to partly prepare you if you need surgery or a transplant yourself.(lol)

I carry a donor card and have done for a few years and anyone is welcome to whatever the medical services can glean from my corpse. I'll not be needing it,

Just a thought from the left field, I remember that there was a thread on the reasons why gay men are unable to donate blood and am wondering if this policy extends to organ donation? If not, curious that policy shuns with one hand and welcome with another.

I've got a donor card, and all my family and friends know my wishes, they can have whatever organs they want once I'm brain dead and send whats left to the university for the medical students to chop-up.

Originally posted by absynthfairy
Gee that would make a good movie...

If Michael Bay hadn't directed it, it might :)

Patricia, shall we also give lower priority for medical treatment to someone who was hit by a car because they weren't paying attention when they crossed the road? They are partly responsible for their condition.

Thanks Redrobbo,get your point. We all have our weaknesses when relating to alchohol,and I really think some people really do try to recover. But the point Im making is,if a child is waiting for a transplant,surely that takes preferance over an alchoholic.I do wish a doctor would make people like me who arent quite sure wether to carry a donor card or not,absolutely specific on how the organs are collected from the donor, and when.It just is not clear enought for me.I just know after that t.v. programme(its been on again tonight) I just felt more as though I wanted to be a donor than before.By the way the alchoholic on the t.v. got his liver transplant,and it was successful.I wont call it successfull until he can prove that he wont drink again. He said he had started drinking previously because his mother and father had died. My mother and father both died,my father in very sad circumstances,and my mother after a lot of suffering,but I dont drink.

Originally posted by pattricia
Thanks Redrobbo,get your point. We all have our weaknesses when relating to alchohol,and I really think some people really do try to recover. But the point Im making is,if a child is waiting for a transplant,surely that takes preferance over an alchoholic.I do wish a doctor would make people like me who arent quite sure wether to carry a donor card or not,absolutely specific on how the organs are collected from the donor, and when.It just is not clear enought for me.I just know after that t.v. programme(its been on again tonight) I just felt more as though I wanted to be a donor than before.By the way the alchoholic on the t.v. got his liver transplant,and it was successful.I wont call it successfull until he can prove that he wont drink again. He said he had started drinking previously because his mother and father had died. My mother and father both died,my father in very sad circumstances,and my mother after a lot of suffering,but I dont drink.

The thing is with organ donation is that it's not a case of first come first served. It is, in fact, a lottery. When a donor becomes available it has to be a near perfect match to be considered as a suitable transplant. It could mean that someone who has just been put on the list finds that a donor is found relatively quickly whereas others could find that they are waiting years for a suitable donor.

I carry a donor card, have done since 2001.

yeah pattricia drink solves nothing!---ive had a rough life since the early 80s---a perfectly normal son fell ill and is now disabled with a severe brain condition-it all started at 3 years old!--i lost my mum 2 years later at the age of 66--my dad 14 years later and as i stated in an earlier post i was diagnosed with a serious and rare incurable kidney disease 2 years ago!!----i never took to drink to ease my cosiderable pain and heartache over the years!!--ive never drunk or smoked in my life so im sorry but i have no time for these people who bring illness on theirselves!!---im in this situation through no fault of my own and until a person is in a similar situation they cant imagine what its like!!--so please dont anyone defend those who abuse their health cos i dont want to hear it!!---pariccia im totally with you and you talk alot of sense!---lifes a precious gift and it needs to be looked after!
oh and while i was in hospital i met some lovely people young and old in even worse situations than me and they were in there through no fault of their own!(at least 2 or 3 probably wont be living now!)---i hope this makes sense and as i say im with you all the way pattriciaxx
ps i just get on with life and cling to my faith thats what gets me through not the other things that are too readily available!!

What I'm trying to say is that you can't choose who you donate to but if you are a donor it could be that you, in fact, help more than one person to live on. Surely that is an incentive in itself.

Well I do carry a donor card, and have done for as long as I can remember, although I've never discussed it with my next of kin and I've no idea what their feelings are, so if their permission is needed then it might turn out to be a futile excersise.

I'm not really expecting my organs to be any use to anyone though, I already have bad eye sight and a congenital kidney problem, but you've got to try.

Thanks,Mikey Spikey,someone talking sense at last. You sure have had it rough.Looking after an ill child is terrible stress,and your illness as well,some people get all the bad luck.My dad died of cancer when I was fifteen,and I just covered it up,but it surfaced in later life.Then I had to put Mum in a nursing home which gave me terrible guilt,but I had no option.Many a time I felt like scooping her up and running home with her ,but i couldnt have coped with her. Shes dead now,but I still feel guilty.But I do not drink.

Australia has one of the lowest number of organ donations in the world. Not because people don't want to donate their organs, but because relatives go against their wishes and refuse permission after the potential doner has died.
I think that the guvernment is in the process of trying to change to change the law so that the persons wisher's are honered.
I have organ doner on my driver's licence and so do my daughters so we won't have the problem of anyone interfering.

Originally posted by tslogf74
Well I do carry a donor card, and have done for as long as I can remember, although I've never discussed it with my next of kin and I've no idea what their feelings are, so if their permission is needed then it might turn out to be a futile excersise.

I'm not really expecting my organs to be any use to anyone though, I already have bad eye sight and a congenital kidney problem, but you've got to try.

think this could be a good time to talk to them about it, to kind of coinside with the DoNation week and everything... I think you should otherwise they won't know for sure what you wanted.

Originally posted by peterdo
Australia has one of the lowest number of organ donations in the world. Not because people don't want to donate their organs, but because relatives go against their wishes and refuse permission after the potential doner has died.


Thats what worries me, they'll ask my mum and she'll say no, however if my boyfriend was my next of kin he would say yes. But I am worried that even when I'm dead people won't do what I want.

I have just joined the donor register. They can have anything after I am gone, for medical research or whatever, well I wont need it will I. To be serious being a donor is the one thing you can do for someone after you've gone and its the gift of life. Being a living donor is also a very heroic thing to do, you can donate a kidney, part of your liver, even bits of your bowel. Its a hard decision to make but if it improves the life of someone else then why shouldnt we.

i've just decided to cancel mine in case a skinny person might need a transplant - based on their opinions of overweight people.

Originally posted by Jillybabes
I have just joined the donor register. They can have anything after I am gone, for medical research or whatever, well I wont need it will I. To be serious being a donor is the one thing you can do for someone after you've gone and its the gift of life. Being a living donor is also a very heroic thing to do, you can donate a kidney, part of your liver, even bits of your bowel. Its a hard decision to make but if it improves the life of someone else then why shouldnt we.

I applaud you for being able to donate your body to medical research. Knowing what some of the bodies go through though, and eww, I just couldn't do it. I hate the idea of my head being hacked off by a first year med student, or them slicing my chest open with a stanley knife.

I never used to know what bodies went through, until I met my girlfriend whose a med student... :gag:

Originally posted by pattricia
By the way the alchoholic on the t.v. got his liver transplant,and it was successful.I wont call it successfull until he can prove that he wont drink again. He said he had started drinking previously because his mother and father had died. My mother and father both died,my father in very sad circumstances,and my mother after a lot of suffering,but I dont drink.
Pattricia, you don't seem to have a very good idea of what alcoholism is. The man started drinking when his mother and father died. He did not continue drinking because of their death; he continued drinking because he had a disease that compelled him to drink. In your case, you would not have done so, and the reason is: you are not an alcoholic.

There is a reason the term 'recovering alcoholic' is used - it is to differentiate between an alcoholic who drinks, and an alcoholic who used to drink but no longer does. An alcoholic never stops being an alcoholic. Ever. My father is a recovering alcoholic, sober for 11 years. He will never drink again, I am sure. But he will never stop being an alcoholic either. Would you deny him your liver or has he 'proved' to you that he will never drink again?

Just caught the end of Casualty on the BBC... not too interested in the programme until the end when two friends of ours from the past, Erika and Eamon Philipson, were on explaining that their 9 yr old son Andrew died in a car acident, and they complied with his wishes and donated his organs.

He was 9, and he had already discussed the issue of donation with his parents....

They lived in Nottingham at the time (15 years ago) and were understandibly devastated when the accident happenened but have had 15 years of feeling that Andrews wishes were acted on and his maturity and thoughtfulness before his death have helped others to live.

(We've lost touch now but I think his corneas were donated too, so someone who was blind has been able to see for 15 years as well)

Originally posted by Hook
I applaud you for being able to donate your body to medical research. Knowing what some of the bodies go through though, and eww, I just couldn't do it. I hate the idea of my head being hacked off by a first year med student, or them slicing my chest open with a stanley knife.


Don't the same criteria apply here for organ donation, blood donation and training new doctors?

Imagine your child is really, really ill- imagine a hypothetical kidney failure. You would EXPECT there to be adequately trained doctors and surgeons to treat them, you would EXPECT that there would be sufficient blood in the blood bank if they needed surgery and a transfusion, and you would PRAY to any deity you could think of that a donor was found before your child died after complications from dialysis (unless you are a Jehovah's Witness, in which case I'll let you off).

Anybody who says that this would not bother them is, I respectfully claim, either telling porkies or not thinking enough about other patients and their loved ones.

Originally posted by medusa666
Don't the same criteria apply here for organ donation, blood donation and training new doctors?

Imagine your child is really, really ill- imagine a hypothetical kidney failure. You would EXPECT there to be adequately trained doctors and surgeons to treat them, you would EXPECT that there would be sufficient blood in the blood bank if they needed surgery and a transfusion, and you would PRAY to any deity you could think of that a donor was found before your child died after complications from dialysis (unless you are a Jehovah's Witness, in which case I'll let you off).

Anybody who says that this would not bother them is, I respectfully claim, either telling porkies or not thinking enough about other patients and their loved ones.

well said medusa666 ! :clap:

I have just been in Wythenshaw hospital for a week undergoing all the assessment tests for a double lung transplant, both my wife and I have "carried the card " since it came out in the sixties, we are also on the national organ donor register since that started up.
While I was in hospital, I saw the patients come in for "the call"
and saw some that had been transplanted with either a heart or heart/lungs or single/double lungs . The difference a donor had made to these people was absolutely incredible, the staff are truly dedicated people .
I agree with medusa666.
And to every one who has a negative attitude to transplant , just try to imagine your feelings/beliefs , if it were one of your loved ones who needed a transplant...... would you still disagree?
And to Willman......
The organs obviously have to be measured as well as being tissue typed and blood typed, it's not a case of being overweight or being skinny, organs grow to the size of the "owners " body.
I think it would be hypocritical of anyone to receive organs if they were not prepared to donate, how is it these days that people only think of what they need and not what they are prepared to give.
Even blood donors are needed.
What good are your organs to you when you die, it's like a kiddie taking the ball in because they aren't playing anymore.

come on Sheffield forumers don't just talk about it ..... do something about it !!!
:help: others and feel proud of yourself

I have a Boots card/donor card combo... I am quite proud that I will be able to help someone out in the event of me kicking the bucket.

Although- that said- I would be quite ****** off if any of my organs were to be donated to people who dont deserve them ie: George Best :(

Originally posted by ANGELUS
I have a Boots card/donor card combo... I am quite proud that I will be able to help someone out in the event of me kicking the bucket.

Although- that said- I would be quite ****** off if any of my organs were to be donated to people who dont deserve them ie: George Best :(

You just have to think that there can't be that many people like george best, and still sign up

deecee

Angelus,what is that Boots card/Donor card combo ? I am very interested in that.

Originally posted by pattricia
Angelus,what is that Boots card/Donor card combo ? I am very interested in that.

hiya pattricia,
I have found the Boots website, here it is
http://www.boots.com
good luck and thanks

deecee
:thumbsup:

Just been on the Boots website Deecee but can see nothing about Donor cards. Im quite new to computers,so may have missed it. As it happens I am going into Boots tommorrow so I will ask.Thanks anyway for you info.

Originally posted by pattricia
Just been on the Boots website Deecee but can see nothing about Donor cards. Im quite new to computers,so may have missed it. As it happens I am going into Boots tommorrow so I will ask.Thanks anyway for you info.

boots place a donor card logo on your advantage card, i had mine done in store @ Meadohell.

Thanks so much Willman for that information.Will do it.

Originally posted by willman
boots place a donor card logo on your advantage card, i had mine done in store @ Meadohell.


you must be really serious then if you've gone to meadowhell as well :clap:

Originally posted by pattricia
Just been on the Boots website Deecee but can see nothing about Donor cards. Im quite new to computers,so may have missed it. As it happens I am going into Boots tommorrow so I will ask.Thanks anyway for you info.

thats great, hope you managed it
:clap:
deecee

Deecee I managed it . The Donor card through Boots.

Originally posted by pattricia
Deecee I managed it . The Donor card through Boots.

thats brilliant pattricia, me and a lot more people need a lot more people like you

:clap: :clap: :clap:
deecee

Yes, for anyone else interested in carrying a donor card,if you already have a Boots card, you ring up the phone number on the receipt of the next thing you buy from Boots.They send you a new card with a donor emblem on it, and inform the health service to put your name on the donor list.Trouble is im not young, and they may not want my organs.?

Hiya Pattricia,

Why would you think your organs are no good just because you are not young, You're never too old to help someone
deecee

Thanks deecee. I dont smoke, and rarely drink alchohol,so they may do someone some good,sometime !

Sign up to the register at http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/. It's best to inform your family, next-of-kin, friends etc of your wishes as well. Not only will they be aware of your wishes, you'll probably hear a number of inspirational stories of people whose lives have been changed for the better. We nearly all know somebody who has been helped by the altruism of others.

I carry a donor card and my family know my wishes after I've died. It's in my Will too. I've been meaning to sign up on the Organ Donor Register for ages but never got round it. But reading this thread has prompted me to finally do it!

Maggi has posted a link to the register and there's also answers to FAQs: http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/questions/questions.jsp

which might answer some of the questions that people have been posting.