RESIDENTS across the Midlands are being called on to formally opt in to organ donation.
This comes after NHS Blood and Transplant revealed just 36 per cent of people have formally expressed their decision to be a donor by registering on the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR) – proportionally, the second lowest rate in the country and below the England average of 40 per cent.
The figures also state there are over 1,500 people in the region waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.
A change in the law now means it is assumed people will be donors unless they have opted out, families are still involved in the conversations about donation, making the final decision on whether it can go ahead.
NHS Blood and Transplant say statistics show that families are significantly more likely to support their loved one’s decision to be a donor when they have expressed their decision, so it’s vitally important for people who want to donate their organs to express that decision on the ODR.
Between 2024 and 2025, 64 people from the Midlands died while waiting for an organ transplant and 703 people in the area have died waiting in the last decade.
Matthew Smith was one of the lucky ones.
The 53-year-old received a life-saving double lung transplant earlier this year, after 10 months on the waiting list and 18 months on oxygen, as a result of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.
He said: “I feel extremely lucky that a family decided to donate when they did and that they have given me a second chance at life because my wife and I truly thought that she would be losing me this year and that is something really difficult to come to terms with.
“The wait for a transplant is awful. You feel in limbo, there’s nothing you can do and you also can’t live your life in the way you want to. The harsh reality is that you are waiting for somebody to die and that’s really difficult.
“Although I only had my transplant a short while ago and I’m still in recovery, I’m already feeling the benefits of the tremendous gift I’ve been given by my donor. I can now breathe without an oxygen tank, which is the strangest sensation but so liberating. I’m beginning to feel that my dream of being able to go back to somewhat normal life might be within reach. I’ll be able to spend more time with my children and grandchildren, I might one day be able to go abroad with my wife again, do all of those things that we take for granted. I want to carry my donor’s legacy on by living the best life that I can.
“Organ donation is the most incredible gift. If more people registered their decision and left their families certain about what they want when they die, more people like me would benefit from these gifts, too.
“I’d encourage all of the people of the Midlands to think about what they might want and to register that decision formally on the ODR.
“It takes no time at all and can have a huge impact.”
For more and to register an organ and tissue donation decision, click here, call 0300 123 23 or use the NHS app.
