National Transplant Week at Addenbrooke’s

This is National Transplant Week – and Addenbrooke’s specialists are urging people across the region to find out about joining the NHS Organ Donor Register.

“Transplants are one of the miracles of modern medicine,” says Mr Chris Watson, consultant transplant surgeon. “They are the best possible treatment for most patients with end-stage organ failure, but there is a desperate shortage of donor organs.

"Last year, Addenbrooke's carried out 249 transplants – but we want to be able to perform many more operations. Nationally, about 1,000 patients die every year on a transplant waiting list before an organ becomes available.

"We'd like to get more people to discuss their wishes with their family and to make those wishes clear by signing up to the register. A quarter of the population has already expressed their wish to donate their organs when they die, but we need to increase that number so we can save more lives."

One recent recipient is Andy Hawkes, 35, who needed a transplant after 22 years of type 1 diabetes left him with kidney failure. The Addenbrooke’s team was able to offer him a combined kidney and pancreas transplant in December 2009, which not only solved his kidney problems but also cured his diabetes. He is one of over 100 patients to have undergone this procedure at the hospital.

“It’s difficult to comprehend the difference between life now and life before my transplant,” says Andy. “Kidney failure took away all my strength and fitness. A year ago, I couldn’t make it through a day at work without a nap. I woke up after my operation – and I’ve never felt so great. Both organs started working from day one, and I was able to stop taking insulin.”

Hospital staff will be running a stall in Cambridge’s Grand Arcade from 9am on Friday 9 July, where transplant specialists and patients will be available to talk to the public about the importance of organ donation.

The hospital will also be hosting a performance by band The Floe at 1.30pm on Friday. Sarah Springett, the band’s lead singer, donated one of her kidneys to her boyfriend in 2009.

More information about registering as a donor is available by calling 0300 123 23 23 or by visiting www.uktransplant.org.uk.