This week is Organ Donation Week where various organisations will take part in a concentrated drive to encourage everyone to talk about organ donation.

This week is Organ Donation Week where various organisations will take part in a concentrated drive to encourage everyone to talk about organ donation. This year will be focused on a campaign called ‘Leave Them Certain’. This is aimed to all, to encourage us to talk to our loved ones about our wishes after death.

No one likes to think that they will die or that they will lose a loved one, however death happens, sometimes it is expected but often we lose someone without notice or preparation. It is important therefore, that we have open and frank conversations with our loved ones about all manner of things but importantly, what happens to our bodies when we die. Not just at the funeral stage but before that.

When we make a will we often mention our wishes for cremation or burial however often, we do not talk to our loved ones about what happens when we die and whether we wish to donate our body or parts of it. A donated organ can mean that someone else has a gift of sight, a beating heart, a set of lungs, a kidney, a liver and many other body parts that we no longer need but will mean everything to someone else.

When I die, I hope that anyone of my organs or parts of my body will be useful to someone else. I carry a donor card at all times and I have registered my wishes on The NHS Donor Register. The web address is www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-your-decision. Will you register your wishes to save a life?