Lincs: There are 82 people waiting for an organ transplant in the county

In Lincolnshire 82 people are on the UK’s waiting list for a transplant, 30 have been waiting longer than two years and nine have been waiting longer than five years, new statistics released by NHS Blood and Transplant reveal.

Almost 49,000 people in the UK have endured the wait for an organ transplant in the last 10 years and more than 6,000, including 270 children, have died before receiving the transplant they desperately needed.

Between April 2011 and November 2015 because of the shortage of organs 28 people living in Lincolnshire have died.

The numbers waiting in Lincolnshire show only a small part of the UK picture.

Of the almost 7,000 patients currently on the UK’s transplant waiting list, 30 per cent have been waiting more than two years. More than 500 of them have been waiting longer than five years, that’s more than 1,800 days each.

The figures released by NHS Blood and Transplant coincide with the launch of a new organ donation campaign ‘The Wait’ to highlight the true scale of the donor organ shortage.

The campaign launches with the screening of a 14 hour film capturing a day in the life of patient Simon Howell, 41, his wife Anita, also 41, and their children Sarah, eight, and James, three.

Born with a serious kidney condition, renal dysplasia, Simon had his first kidney transplant in 2005 thanks to his mum offering to be a living donor.

Unfortunately, in 2009, the kidney failed. Simon was added to the transplant waiting list for a new kidney and has been waiting longer than six years already.

Sally Johnson, NHS Blood and Transplant Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation said: “Simon’s journey has already been a long and difficult one and while we are doing everything we can to make sure he gets the transplant he needs, the NHS cannot do this without help from other people.

“Statistically, more than one in 10 people on the waiting list will die before they get the transplant they need.”

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register please go to organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.

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