NHS Blood and Transplant is urging everyone to take the time to consider and take time to talk about their organ donation decision.
From spring 2020, all adults in England will be considered to have agreed to donate their own organs when they die unless they record a decision not to donate or are in one of the excluded groups.
Their ‘Pass it on’ campaign aims to motivate people to “Pass It On”, whether that’s by making the decision to pass on their organs to save lives; passing on their decision to family and friends or passing on information about the law change to other people.
One family who know the importance of having the conversation, are the family of 18-year-old Billy Gradwell-Smith, who died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage in December 2016, while at home from university for the Christmas holidays.
Billy’s father, Trevor said: “Billy was all for donating everything, anything that could be of use to anybody. He said when you are gone you are gone; the organs would be no use to him. By making his decision clear, he made a difficult situation easier for us, and ensured he didn’t miss the opportunity to save lives.”
To find out more about the choices, and to register a donor decision, visit: www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 303 2094.
