Spalding organ transplant patient says 'have the conversation' about organ donation

A Spalding teaching assistant whose life was saved after a double organ transplant in 2014 has described the latest NHS figures as "encouraging and disappointing".

Sam Newton (39), who underwent kidney and transplant surgery after he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child, welcomed figures showing that 135 people across England donated their organs in the first five months after a new law took effect.

The Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act 2020, which became law on May 20, brought in an "opt out" system where people are now assumed to be willing to donate their organs unless they have indicated otherwise.

But the figures from NHS Blood and Transplant also showed that in 2019-20, just 20 people from Lincolnshire donated their organs when they died, while 64 people received an organ transplant.

Sam, a multiple medallist at British, European and World Transplant Games between 2014 and 2019, said: "It's very encouraging to see that 135 extra people have donated organs because of this change in the law, although we don’t know how many of these would have donated anyway.

"The disappointing thing from the NHS Blood and Transplant figures was that although 80 per cent of people agreed with organ donation in principle, only 34 per cent actually signed up to believe.

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"I believe that if you are willing to accept an organ, if needed, you should be willing to give an organ when you don’t need it any more and maybe that’s the point people don’t get."

Between April 2015 and March 2020, 27 people from Lincolnshire died while waiting for a transplant, according to the NHS which also confirmed that since April 2016, more than 2,000 people in the same situation had died across the UK.

Sam, who described Max and Kiera's Law (as it is also known) as a move that will "save an awful lot of lives" when it took effect in May, said: "It’s disappointing that Lincolnshire only had 20 residents who gave organs in 2019-20, while 64 people received organs in the same time period.

"It's not hard to see that this isn’t a situation that can be maintained with positive results and I’m sure this is one of the reasons why the law was changed to allow for 'deemed consent'.

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"But people having conversations with their loved ones about organ donation is still absolutely essential, otherwise more people with families and jobs could be lost.

"I know that 27 people from Lincolnshire who died while waiting for an organ transplant in Lincolnshire doesn’t sound a lot, especially over a five-year period.

"But with the situation we're going through right now, they are 27 people who could have made a real difference in their local communities, like I hope I'm doing."

Barbara Spiller, of Bourne, whose daughter Maddy Orford (18) had two heart transplants in nine months before she passed away in August 2017, said: "Even with the change in law from 'opt in' to 'opt-out', families will still be consulted if organ donation becomes a possibility.

"So I'd encourage anyone who has made the decision to become an organ donor to talk to their family about it because it's so important to know what that person would have wanted and to be able to honour those wishes.

"Those who have consented to organ donation speak of how it brings them comfort in their grief to know their loved one has gone on to save the lives of others.

"Meanwhile, for those waiting for an organ transplant, it could quite literally be the difference between life and death."