In the world of organ donation we never seem to be far from an anniversary.
This year the UK’s Organ Donor Register marks the 30th anniversary of its launch. That really doesn’t seem very long for something we now take for granted, but it wasn’t always there.
Peter Cox was 24 years old when he died due to a brain tumour.
“He was a great rugby player, he didn’t smoke,” his mother, Rosemary, said in an interview for Channel 5 News (2018). “He was the life and soul of the party, and suddenly he couldn’t remember things and we found out that he had a brain tumour, an astocytoma. We heard it in January (1989) and he died in the November. We tried very hard but unfortunately there was no cure. So he went, eventually, into intensive care at Warwick Hospital and while he was in there he told us that he wished to give his organs for transplant and so we set about carrying out his wishes.”
Christine, Peter’s sister, told the news team, “We explained to the medical team that he wished to give his organs and because he had a brain illness, everything else was perfect within his body. So I think everything was used apart from his lungs, and up to 17 people benefitted from him giving everything it was possible to give. It certainly made it a lot easier for my family to know that his death had not been in vain and that others benefitted from it.”
“Peter’s heart went to a grandfather in Newcastle-upon-Tyne,” Rosemary added, “and he was able to live for many years and enjoy his grandchildren so, we didn’t have our miracle, but he did.”
When Peter’s family discovered there wasn’t a national system to help fulfil Peter’s wish, Rosemary, Christine, and Peter’s dad, John, began a campaign to set up a UK-wide database for willing donors.
“Having lost Peter, it was the worst thing that could possibly happen to our family, we were very close, and we wanted to stop other people losing loved ones just because of the shortage of organs.”
Five years later, the National Organ Donor Register was launched.
My brother Peter achieved an unimaginable amount of good by expressing his support for organ donation, and making his decision known to us as a family,” says Christine.
From here, Happy Anniversary, National Organ Donor Register. Thank you for 30 years, thousands of wishes honoured and more than 100,000 lives saved and transformed. Thank you John, Rosemary and Christine. And thank you Peter, for your kindness that set it in motion…