• New figures reveal dozens of lives have been saved and transformed thanks to organ donation
• The UK is marking Organ Donation Week from Monday 23 – Sunday 29 September
• A former Bolton nurse who had a double lung transplant is raising awareness of Organ Donor Register

As the UK marks Organ Donation Week 2024, new figures reveal dozens of lives in Bolton have been saved and transformed thanks to the power of organ donation.

In 2023, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust referred 46 people for consideration for organ donation to NHS Blood and Transplant and of those, eight became donors, with four organs helping to save eleven lives.

Figures from the Trust also reveal 27 eye retrievals were received – and each eye can save the sight of up to ten people.

Suzanne Lomax, Clinical Lead for Bereavement at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said:

We’re so grateful to everyone who chooses to give the gift of life to others, and help others, through organ donation.

“It is so important that we all confirm our organ donation decisions to help save even more lives after we die. You can do this really easily on the NHS Blood and Transplant website or through the NHS app.

2024 marks 30 years of the NHS Organ Donor Register, and since it was created in 1994, almost 60,000 lives have been saved.

It's #OrganDonationWeek, the perfect time to reflect, celebrate, and make a life-saving difference. 💕

It takes just two minutes to register your organ donation decision, and your choice could save up to nine lives. It’s the best thing you’ll do today! https://t.co/Ubd1SeNDUr pic.twitter.com/XfZb6DAlaN

— NHS Organ Donation💗🫀🫁 (@NHSOrganDonor) September 23, 2024

Organ Donation Week is helping to celebrate the milestone and raising awareness about the gift of organ donation.

There are 7,600 people currently in need of an organ transplant and there are calls for more people to register their decision to become organ donors after they die, to help save more lives.

Natalie Kerr, a former nurse at Royal Bolton Hospital, received a double lung transplant in February 2012 after being diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, and is passionate about raising awareness of organ donation.

When I first started to feel poorly I was working as a Staff Nurse on F5 and I noticed I started to get short of breath, at first it was subtle if I had been walking too fast.

“Then it started to get worse and I started collapsing because I just couldn’t get my breath.

“In 2007 I was pregnant with my little girl and at this point my breath got even worse. My lips would be blue, I couldn’t walk up the starts to the ward. I went into labour at 33 weeks in the hospital’s maternity ward and because my oxygen levels were so low I was sent for heart scans during labour.

Natalie’s scans revealed that she had pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung disease where blood vessels become more narrow over time, and it was at this point she was told she only had a few years to live.

Her daughter, Isabelle, was born naturally and after three weeks, they were both discharged. Natalie spent years receiving specialist treatments to help manage the condition, before being referred for a lung transplant assessment in 2011.

When I received my diagnosis I was heartbroken and left with an awful sinking feeling that I was going to die and leave everyone, including my young children.

“I was told the only cure was to take my lungs out and put another pair in. This came with its own medications, but I just wanted to live and have a better quality of life.

Natalie was place on the transplant list in October 2011 as a priority and by 16 February 2012, she received the call she had been desperately waiting for.

Every day you’re waiting for the phone to ring. It feels like you can’t plan anything when you’re waiting for a transplant and it’s a very surreal situation to be in.

“When the phone rang I got goose bumps, my heart was beating out of my chest. I couldn’t believe they were ringing. I just heard the lady say that they had lungs and needed to get me to hospital.

Within hours of receiving the phone call, Natalie was in theatre in the early hours of the 17 February.

I can’t put into words what the transplant means, even 12 years later. It’s so amazing to still be here with my children, who are now aged 22 and 16. I’ve watched them grow up, which is what I wanted more than anything in the world.

“I just wanted to breathe and I am so grateful to my donor for saving my life. I soak in every second that I get, every Christmas, every birthday. The little things in life are big things to me. I just appreciate being here to see it all.

Natalie regularly gives talks on the power of organ donation to help raise awareness among doctors, nurses and the public.

If you want to donate it just takes seconds to register your wishes. I would say just think how amazing it could be to save someone’s life when you have gone. You could keep a family together for longer, just like mine.

How you can help

• Register to become an organ donor online or via the NHS App
• Go pink to highlight the need for more organ donors and to remind people to register their decision
• Show your support for organ donation on social media