Duo In Race Against Time To Recruit Donors

By Ben Pindar, Community Newswire

Health Donors Surrey

March 7, 2006

An inspirational young woman who faces a race against time to get a life-saving operation has defied her illness to help put together a major new campaign to recruit more organ donors.

Last year more than 400 people died waiting for a transplant due to a chronic lack of organ donors in the UK and now two friends who are battling Cystic Fibrosis are uniting to try and prevent any more unecessary deaths.

One member of the inspirational duo behind the campaign, 21-year-old Emily Thackray from West Ewell in Surrey, is understandably anxious that it succeeds as she is on the transplant list herself and faces a race against time to raise awareness.

Both Emily and her friend Emma Harris, 32, from Pewsey, Wiltshire, suffer from Cystic Fibrosis (CF), the UK's most common life-threatening genetic disease which affects various organs of the body, in particular the lungs and the digestive system.

The average life expectancy of a CF sufferer in the UK is just 31 years, with the majority of deaths caused by progressive lung damage.

In March 2005 Emily joined over 6,500 other people in the UK on the transplant waiting list. However the reality is bleak as there is a 50% chance that Emily will die before she ever receives a transplant due to the serious and increasing shortage of organ donors.

With time running out for Emily, she and Emma have decided to take matters into their own hands with the launch of the "Live Life Then Give Life" campaign and accompanying website at www.livelifethengivelife.co.uk

Emily said: "Time is running out for me, but if this project doesn't save my life, I am certain it will save others. I am fiercely determined to do all I can to encourage people to talk about organ donations and if they support it, show it.

Emma added: "Between us, Emily and I have watched 15 young friends die waiting for a transplant because their call never came.

"I'm not prepared to stand back and watch the same thing happen to Emily and others if I can do something positive to help change the situation."

Statistics show people are more likely to need a transplant than to become a donor and while the vast majority of people support the idea of organ donation, only 22% have signed the organ donor register.

Now Emily and Emma are urging others to send out a positive message and encourage people to think and talk about their wishes by wearing one of the campaign's specially designed T-shirts, sporting the Live Life Then Give Life message or the cheeky "I'd Give You One" slogan.

The campaign has already scooped celebrity support from ex-Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona and TV couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan who invited Emily onto their show to discuss transplant issues.

The couple, who are also patrons of the CF Trust, have now added their support to the campaign and are urging everybody to join the donor register.

Richard said: "Campaigns like Emily's are a vital reminder to everyone of the urgent need to carry a card and make our wishes clear.

"If more of us did, people like her would not have to endure such an agonising and pointless wait for life-saving transplants."

The campaign also supports Transplants in Mind, the national charity behind National Transplant Week and the Donor Bus - promoting the positive benefits of organ and tissue donation for transplantation, throughout the year.

You can sign up to the National Donor Registry.

To find out more about the Live Life then Give Life campaign, or to get a T-shirt, visit Live Life Then Give Life

Copyright © 2006 The Press Association.

This article posted March 25, 2006.