Mayor calls for more Derry donors

The Mayor of Derry has called on more local people to get involved in National Transplant week by joining the organ donor register.

Following a meeting with local woman, Margaret McDaid who recently underwent a successful transplant operation, Councillor Shaun Gallagher said organ donation and transplants had affected people throughout Northern Ireland and that it was important to encourage as many people as possible to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Stressed the importance a donor had made in saving her life, Margaret said: “It’s thanks to the generosity of donors and their families that my life was saved. It was a very emotional time for me. When the phone call came through telling me that a suitable organ had been found it was like my life was being taken off hold, I was at last being given a chance.”

There are currently 243 people in Northern Ireland, including seven children, waiting for the gift of an organ that will save or dramatically improve the quality of their lives.

Over 5,700 people in the UK are waiting for a transplant but just under 2,800 are carried out each year.

Almost 400 people die each year while waiting for a suitable organ to be donated and many others die before even joining the waiting list.

There are around 160,000 people on the Organ Donor Register in Northern Ireland.

(MB)