ARE you signed up to give the gift of life?
Today (March 8) is World Kidney Day, and the Luton & Dunstable Hospital is getting the message out about the importance of joining the NHS Organ Donor Register.
More than 10,000 people in the UK are currently waiting for a transplant, and one donor can potentially save nine other lives.
Yvette Aris, 49, of Capron Road, Dunstable, received a donor kidney in 2003 after suffering with chronic renal failure for 20 years.
She said: “I’m so grateful for what it’s enabled me to do.
“The donor was 19 years old, the same age as my son at the time, and that had a profound effect on me. I kept my family and my career.
“It really has been life-changing.”
Bobby Mudhar’s parents decided to donate the organs of his younger brother, Mandip, who died after suffering serious injuries in a car crash.
Bobby, 40, of Rudyard Close, Luton, said: “For my parents it brought some positivity out of a tragedy. The hospital was able to prolong the lives of three other people.
“There are a lot of myths around religion and organ donation but as Sikhs we try to put others before ourselves.
“If you are prepared to take you should be prepared to give as well.”