Tissue and organ donation helps to enhance and save lives. In the UK today over 42,000 people have had their sight improved by cornea transplants. There are 39,000 people alive today because of solid organ transplants – 24,000 of these people have had their lives changed by kidney transplants (2010 Renal Registry source). These transplants have freed patients with end stage kidney failure from the constraints of regular dialysis so that they can lead far more normal lives. Many people that have suffered serious bone damage or breaks have received bone from deceased donors to help them resume their lives. Sperm and egg donation help infertile couples to conceive over 2,000 babies each year. Eight thousand units of blood are used by the NHS each day to get people through their operations and back to good health.

But all this is only possible through the generosity of volunteer donors. These are people who freely give their organs, tissue or blood to help save lives. This website is all about the gift of life and the people that make it happen and the people who have had their lives transformed by this medical miracle. It is about people like me. I had my life saved in June 2006 because of a heart and kidney transplant. More importantly the website is about the thousands of people in the UK waiting for a life saving transplant operation.

The graph above shows the scale of the challenge facing the transplant community in the UK. Since 1999 the number of people waiting for a solid organ transplant has risen from 5,345 to 7,877 which is a 47.4% increase (red line). These figures DO NOT include patients suspended from waiting lists because they are medically too unstable. In the same period the proportion of heartbeating deceased donors (i.e. donors that have been diagnosed as brain stem dead but are on a mechanical ventilator) has declined by 13.5% from 708 to 612 in 2009 (blue line). The green line on the chart shows how dependent we are in the UK on the generosity of living donors. In 2008-09 950 people donated a kidney – usually to a relative. Living lung and liver lobes can also be donated.

The number of solid organ transplant procedures carried out in the UK has risen by 1,142 in the last decade (48.4%) but this still amounts to only 3,502 procedures between 2008-09. Consequently on average 3 people a day die waiting for organ transplants – over 1,000 people a year experience avoidable deaths.

The data used in this graph is taken from the UK Transplant activity reports which can be found at the following web link: [ODT web link] UK Transplant was renamed the Organ Donation and Transplantation Directorate (ODT) through recent changes made by the NHSBT.

Please carefully ponder the words of John Donne below and remember that the need for an organ transplant does not discriminate. It can hit anyone at anytime.

The words in the meditation below were written by the poet and clergyman John Donne. The words are from a work written in 1624 called ‘Devotions upon Emergent Occasions’ – Donne wrote these words whilst getting over a life threatening illness. He lived between the years 1572-1631.

If you can identify with these words, ideas and sentiments you will be able to appreciate the importance of transplants and donation.

Meditation XVII: No man is an island...

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

If Donne’s words mean little to you then I fear that you might not want to investigate this transplant website. If you want to get to grips with this poetry I recommend you go to the following website : [John Donne web link] If you want to understand more about the life saving process of transplants carry on reading this website.

What do each of these people have in common?

These five people have had seven major organs replaced at critical times in their lives so that they could carry on living. Let me introduce myself. I’m the middle aged man with the beard on the left. My name is Graham Brushett. At the ripe old age of 54 I’m learning to make a website so that hopefully I will encourage more people to think about the life saving merits of transplants along with need for more tissue and organ donors. That’s why the pictures above are so badly edited, because I’m only a learner! No blame should be attached to my great teacher Bill Halls (webcyt.com) - it's all my fault! I’m told they should all be the same size, but life isn’t like that. You don’t always get what you expect. For example, I didn’t think I’d need a simultaneous heart and kidney transplant at the age of 51, back in 2006. I'm putting this web page together on the third anniversary of my life saving double transplant. The bell was about to toll for me - in fact the bell had a few half-hearted clangs in the build up to my transplant. I became acutely aware that no-one is an island - we all depend on each other for hope and happiness. In my case I urgently needed another family to offer me the gift of life.

I want to say from the outset that I am truly grateful for my life saving medical surgery. However, it is very difficult for my family and I to celebrate my good fortune for various reasons. Firstly the tragedy that led to the death of my donor and the grief his family will always have to endure has to moderate my feelings of good fortune.

Secondly I have known other patients who have not been as lucky as me. They have died waiting for life saving transplant operations. These are operations that liberate people from a death sentence that they have done nothing to deserve. The need for a transplant does not discriminate – it can impact on anyone. Yet as a society we choose to burn or bury organs that can save lives. Over 1,000 people each year die as a result of end stage organ failure who should be alive today. Their families have this misery heaped on them by a society that too often prefers to avoid the issues related to donation. (Just 27% of the population has signed up to the Organ Donor Register - 'thank you' to those altruistic people, but what about the other 73%?)

What is more unpalatable to consider? The thought of giving life saving organs when you die or witnessing the death of a loved one because there are not enough organs donated each year? These are completely avoidable deaths.

What follows in this website is an attempt to explain the UK transplant process in the belief that if it is easier to understand more people will be encouraged to engage with its positive benefits.

This website is my tribute to all the donors and their families that have given the second chance of life to so many people. It is also a memorial to all those people that needlessly died waiting for a transplant. Nobody expects to need a transplant – just ask the people in the photographs above.

Jonah Lomu didn’t expect to have his glittering All Blacks Ruby Union career interrupted by a kidney disease called nephrotic syndrome that very nearly crippled him. Lomu received a living kidney donation from a New Zealand radio presenter called Grant Kereama in July 2004. He returned to playing rugby the following year

Ivan Klasnic, the scorer of two Euro 2008 championship goals for his Croatian national side, had two kidney transplants in 2007. The first was from his mother in January 2007 which was rejected and the second from his father in March. He was back playing in the Bundesliga for Werder Bremen by November of that year. He now plays for Nantes. News update: Ivan is now at Bolton Wanderers following a loan agreement with Nantes - his story can be read at the Bolton Wanderer's website: [BWFC web link]

Brian Clough, the “best manger England never had” fought many battles – a liver transplant at the age of 67 gave him 20 months of additional life. I can feel some of you already bristling in cyberspace, either because you are not a Derby County or Nottingham Forest fan, or you believe that someone that's had serious alcohol problems should not receive a transplant. But more on that later.

The lovely lady to the right is Elaine Betts. She and I both received our transplants at the Wythenshawe Transplant Clinic in 2006. Elaine suffers from Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and fought with this for 35 years until her life saving double lung transplant operation. This wonderful photo shows Elaine being able to dance at a New Year’s Eve party after her operation without the need for oxygen or going blue. These are common challenges facing people with CF.

Elaine and I are acutely aware that we are both alive today because two people died prematurely. They had their dying wishes to be donors honoured by the NHS so that life could go on for other people. Up to 20% of people on heart waiting lists and nearly 50% of patients with CF on lung transplant waiting lists do not get the second chance of life that Elaine and I are enjoying. They die. They die simply because there are not enough suitable organs available. In total over 1,000 people a year die waiting for a transplant. This website is designed to challenge what society feels about this issue. It is intended to promote a better understanding of the complexities involved and help people make informed decisions about a life saving issue which could affect any family at any time.

Transplants truly can transform lives and they can impact literally on anyone -

regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or religion.

It may be stating the obvious but I think most people would agree that we live in a less than perfect world. As human beings we each have the capacity to improve our existence whilst on this planet. The challenging aspect of human behaviour is that we all have different approaches and priorities as to how we change the world for the better.

Take the issue of transplantation. For some people it is a subject worthy of great celebration. Over 130,000 people have had their lives extended by virtue of organ transplants in the UK alone. No doubt most of them are eternally grateful to their donor for their second chance of life. 42,000 people in the UK have had their sight improved with a cornea transplant. This is an extraordinary transformation for their lives. Nobody wakes up one day wanting a transplant simply because they have never had one before! You don't volunteer to have a major organ replaced unless you absolutely have to. But for thousands of patients and their families tissue and organ transplants have brought a huge improvement in the quality of their lives.

But to focus purely on the positive is to disregard the individuals and their families who have not been served well by society with regard to transplants. An unknown number of people experience end stage tissue or organ failure and die before they are even considered for a transplant operation. Many people are assessed so late that they became too ill or too old to receive a transplant procedure. Over 1,000 people on transplant waiting lists die each year because of organ shortages despite the huge social, health and financial investment they receive during their wait. These families have little to celebrate. Some patients receive their transplant operation so late they lose the challenge to survive after the operation because they have become so weak.

My personal gratitude to my donor and his family could never be adequately expressed. Without his heart and kidney I would have died in 2006. This website is a tribute to him, his family and all the health professionals that have got me to this stage in my life. It is a tribute to the families like the Pollack, Ferguson and Harrison families who tragically experienced the premature death of their sons, but had the courage to say “yes” to organ donation to honour the wishes of their boys.

The website is also presented in memory to people such as Adrian Sudbury, Helen Miller and Hassan Malik who ran out of time. In the twenty-first century in the UK surely it is shameful that people should die and that families are left devastated simply because donors are not found in time? I appeal to all families that have experienced this tragedy to share their thoughts by contacting this website. This may seem exploitative and insensitive, but I believe that it is the views of these families that the public needs to be aware of. Perhaps this way we might encourage more people to consider donation. We are constantly told by government sources that 90% of the population is in favour of donation. So what will jolt them into action?

I only had to endure 8 months on haemodialysis. During this time three family men died waiting for a kidney transplant in my unit alone. I had promised one of them that I would do everything I could to encourage more people to be donors to help him get away from haemodialysis. We had never considered the possibility that dialysis would end with his death. I will always deeply regret the death of these people. Why should I survive and not them? Do we not live in an equal opportunity society? As in so many walks of life health inequalities remain widespread, though hopefully narrowing.

In a perfect world inherited conditions and acquired diseases would be eliminated so that transplants would not be needed. Who knows, stem cell research may achieve this ‘utopia’ in years to come. In the meantime transplants will postpone the inevitable demise we all face. It is a sobering thought, but as human beings we all share two prospects:

We all pay taxes and we will all die.

This website will always be a work-in-progress. The site is intended to get across the message that transplants can impact on all our lives. It is intended to help us all make informed decisions about transplants and donation. The National Health Service offers all UK citizens the right to a transplant procedure, but to deliver this commitment the NHS depends on the cooperation of tissue and organ donors. Would you choose to postpone death for your fellow citizens by becoming a donor? Would you want the same for yourself or someone you love?

Can you spot the donors or recipients?

In the nostalgic black and white photo above can you spot the tissue and organ donors? Or maybe these finely honed athletes have all received transplants to keep them alive?

You simply cannot tell.

This unlikely group raised a lot of money for the Bolton Breast Scanner appeal over 20 years ago. We played a ‘Squashathon’ for 24 hours. So presumably we were all pretty fit people. The author of this website is pictured second from the left. My fellow team players at Markland Hill Tennis Club back in 1987 would probably dispute how fit I was! But nobody, including me, would have anticipated that I would need a simultaneous heart and kidney transplant operation 19 years later at the age of fifty-one. But that is exactly what was needed to keep me alive in June 2006.

Transplants save real lives of ordinary people

The purpose of this website is to explain how the need for a transplant can enter into anybody’s life at any time. Transplants save real lives of ordinary people like you and I. That is why this website is designed to get us all thinking positively about tissue and organ donation. A transplant can rescue anyone of us or someone that we desperately love. As we all have the right to a transplant procedure we ought to make informed decisions about donor responsibilities.

Tha is the purpose of this website - to encourage greater involvement with donation opportunities. In a population of about 61 million people in the UK we have 16 million people that have voluntarily signed up to the Organ Donor Register using the opt-in system. This system depends on people making a voluntary choice to be donors. What about the other 75% of the population?

We have about 1.6 million active blood donors, which is around 4% of the population.

There are fewer than 500,000 registered bone marrow donors.

If we gain better understanding would we gain more donors?

This website is the Internet face of the Donor Transplant Education Group known as Dteg. This is a not-for-profit community interest company that has been set up to help the public gain a fuller understanding of the organ and tissue transplant process in the United Kingdom. This approach brings together a discussion of all donor activity that includes, blood, bone marrow, tissue, solid organ and body donation. The purpose of Dteg is to help people engage more positively with the benefits of donation, transplants or transfusions.

This website is definitely not a medical advice journal. It is edited by a lay person for lay people that are not technically familiar with transplant issues.   It is not intended to be an academic specialist study.   This website is designed to help people get a better understanding of a life saving process and maybe take a more committed approach to tissue and organ donation.   It is intended to be used by teachers to help students of all ages understand the true significance of transplantation from a variety of angles - social, political, legal, moral, medical, scientific and so on.

I set up Dteg to fund the talks in schools, colleges, universities and hospitals which I help to organise. The seed of this idea was sown back in 2004. Between 2004 and 2006 I spent more time in hospital than I care to remember. Much of my time was spent thinking about what would get me out of hospital. It became very clear that a heart transplant was likely to be the solution. But what did my family and I understand about this process that we had all got caught up in? You have to learn very quickly and it can be a very steep learning curve. So Dteg and this website are designed primarily to help families and patients on their journey through a transplant.

I had been a teacher of ‘A’ level subjects in Bolton for nearly 20 years before I went into heart failure. In June 2006 I received a simultaneous heart and kidney transplant to give me the second chance of life. I now use my knowledge and skills to help young adults make informed choices about the various opportunities that we all have to become donors. During the presentations people are asked to discuss the experiences of real lives and ordinary people who have been donors and recipients. The objective is to help audiences understand the life saving potential of transplantations of all types. (My journey through the transplant process can be read in the ‘Recipient Experiences’ section of the website.) [Link to my transplant journey web page]

This website is a companion to those talks. The website is designed to be inclusive of all transplant and donation procedures. As the site develops over time it will aim to explain why transplants are needed, how they are carried out and what benefits they bring to society. Contributions will be made from the community at large and specialist health professionals in particular. Developments in the transplant world will also be explained such as the recommendations of the current Organ Donation Taskforce and the role new transplant technologies such as ex-vivo machines and stem cell therapies to ‘repair’ organs.

The quality of the website will depend on the information provided by donors, recipients and health professionals. The website exists to inform and support people who may be entering the world of transplants. This is particularly important for patients that have been listed for a transplant and the people that care for them. The more transparent a process can be made the more people can engage with it in a positive way. Your suggestions and articles are vital to this process. Please go to the 'About Dteg' link on this website to find out more about this organisation. ['About Dteg' web page]

Please use the ‘Contact’ page of this website if you would like to support this educational project in any manner whether it is through financial funding, contributing articles to the website or participating in any awareness raising campaigns. Alternatively you can email - graham.brushett@yahoo.co.uk

Feel free to contact us to help you organise your educational or training needs with regard to transplants and donation.

TRANSPLANTS SAVE LIVES, MONEY and MISERY.