Give yourself

The AHS would like you to encourage your members and others to join the Bone Marrow register, organise blood drives and spread awareness of organ donation. If you have any questions contact us on nonprophet@ahsstudents.org.uk.

Organ donation

Organ donation normally happens after death (unless you decide to give a kidney to a relative). Unlike people of some faiths we believe that when we die our bodies are useless to us. By joining the organ donations register you are simply saying that when you die you would like your organs to be used to help another person.

The organs are given to someone who has damaged organs that need to be replaced. An organ transplant may save a person’s life, or it may significantly improve their health and quality of life.

You can say which organs you would not like to donate (if you decide to). The organs you can donate are: heart, lungs, liver, corneas, kidneys, pancreas, liver, small bowel, bone, skin, and cartilage. Remember even if your eyesight is not great, the corneas could still be used to make someone see.

Joining the UK national Organ Donor Register

The NHS Organ Donor Register is a national, confidential database that holds the details of more than 17 million people who want to donate their organs after their death. It can be accessed by healthcare professionals to find out whether an individual has registered to be an organ donor.

By adding your name to the register, everyone will be aware of your wishes, making it easier for them to agree to your donation.

Joining the register is easy. You can fill in a form, order then here, you can join the register here, or by calling the NHS Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23.

Carrying a donor card means that anyone that finds you or your wallet will know your wishes. And who knows - your wallet might be more likely to get handed in if they can see what a nice person you are.

Running a stall

During Non-Prophet Week you could book a stall on campus and use it to explain the importance of organ donation, get people to fill in forms, hand out donor cards and sign people up online using laptops.

Also remember to encourage people to tell all their friends and family of their wishes. Often the medical staff do not feel comfortable asking  a bereaved family about organ donations. So you need to ask them to speak up.

Promotional material such as posters and flyers can be ordered by ringing the Organ Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23.

More facts

Thousands of organ transplants are carried out in the UK and Ireland each year. Unfortunately there are always significantly more people on the waiting list. For example, at the end of March 2010, 8,000 people were waiting for an organ transplant.

There is a need for more people of African, African-Caribbean and south Asian ethnicities to join the Organ Donor Register. Most people who are waiting for a donated organ need to have a kidney, heart, lung or liver transplant. One donor can help several people as different organs will go to different people.

Most people do not die in circumstances that will allow them to donate their organs. It is, therefore, important that as many people as possible join the register. Next of kin cannot overrule the decision of someone to donate their organs. It is important that you tell your next of kin about your decision while you are alive.

When an organ becomes available for donation, it is checked to make sure that it is healthy. The blood and tissue type of both donor and recipient are also checked to ensure that they are compatible. The better the match, the greater the chance of a successful outcome. People from the same ethnic group are more likely to be a close match. Those with rare tissue types may only be able to accept an organ from someone of the same ethnic origin. This is why it is so important that people from all ethnic backgrounds register to donate their organs.

All information came from the NHS website and more can be found here.

Irish Organ donation

Unfortunately there is no Organ Donations register in the Republic of Ireland. You can however apply for an organ donor card by texting the word DONOR to 50050 or complete the form on the Irish Kidney Association website.

You should also encourage people to make sure their family know their wishes to donate their organs when they die.

Blood Donation

Blood drives have been popular with AHS societies for years.

Some societies have encountered problems with booking as the blood donor centre might ask you to give the names of everyone that is attending.

Find your nearest venue here, or call 0300 123 23 23.

Who can donate

The rules for who can and cannot donate change often. It is best to check the website. If you have been out of the UK in the last year it is best to ring 0300 123 23 23 to check.

Joining the Bone Marrow Register

Joining the Bone Marrow Register no longer needs a sample of blood and can be done with saliva sample. There are two main organisations to join: the British Bone Marrow Register and the Anthony Nolan Register, but you only need to join one. To join you must be between the ages 18 and 49 in the UK (and 18-45 in Republic of Ireland) and your details will remain on the register until you are 60 in the UK (and until you are 55 in Republic of Ireland).

The British Bone Marrow Register is part of the NHS. You can join when you donate blood. Just ask at the desk when you arrive and they’ll give you an extra form to fill in and take only a small amount of extra blood from you. If you arrange a blood drive then this could work really well in conjunction.

Another way is to join the Anthony Nolan register. They are a charity set up solely for the purpose of collecting the details of whiling donors. It takes less than 10 minutes to apply online here. If you are suitable they will then send you a saliva testing kit, which you send them back. It costs them £100 per application so you might want to consider raising money for them also.

Donating Bone Marrow

A bone marrow donation is a fairly painless and relatively straightforward medical procedure that can be used to treat (and often cure) many serious, life-threatening conditions. It is used to treat disease such as: leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and aplastic anaemia.

There is more information about what donating involves here.

What is bone marrow?

It is the soft, jelly-like tissue that is found in the hollow centre of large bones. It contains stem cells which produce red and white blood cells. There are many conditions where the bone marrow does not work properly. They are either genetic or caused by cancer, disease or radiotherapy. This bone marrow can be replaced by using some donated bone marrow. These cells then have the ability to replicate and produce healthy blood cells.

It is preferred to use bone marrow from a close family member, however 70% do not have one that has a matching tissue type. This is when the register is used. It lists people that have said they are whiling to donate their bone marrow, their tissue type and contact details.

The number of people who need bone marrow donations is much higher than the number of available donors. The Anthony Nolan Trust estimates that, in the UK, they manage to save two lives a day by finding suitable donors, but another two people will be unable to find a suitable donor.

Running a stall

As you have read by getting people to join the register your society will have the chance to directly save lives and drastically improve the quality of someone’s life.

You can email Anthony Nolan here and order promotional material and application packs. Give your society's full name, region and phone number, and tell them how many people you think will attend the recruitment event - and specifically how many of them will be young men.

More information

You can call 0300 123 23 23, look on the NHS website and Anthony Nolan websites.

Irish Bone Marrow Register

The Republic of Ireland does not have Bone Marrow Registers in the same way. You can register your interest by filling in the registry form here. This will be used when the Bone Marrow Registry staff are deciding where to run events. They will contact you when there is a recruitment in your area.