First ever campaign to get Wales Talking About Organ Donation

A pioneering campaign aimed at increasing the number of organ donors in Wales will be launched .

The Donate Wales – Tell a Loved One campaign, funded by the
Welsh Assembly Government and led by the Kidney Wales
Foundation, sees nine major charities come together for the first
time in the UK to tackle the shortage of donors.

It’s also the first time there’s been an organ donation campaign unique to Wales.
The campaign will be launched at 10:30am 13 of May at City Hall in
Cardiff by First Minister Rhodri Morgan, Health Minister Edwina
Hart and Roy J. Thomas, Executive Chairman Kidney Wales
Foundation.

Currently, around 471 people in Wales are waiting for an organ
transplant, but with a desperate shortage of donors many face
the reality of having to wait years and the possibility they may
even die while waiting.

In the last five years, more than 750 lives have been transformed
by a transplant and the generosity of a donor. Sadly, in that time
150 people have died while waiting for a suitable donor organ –
the equivalent of one person every fortnight.

More than 780,000 in Wales have joined the Organ Donor
Register but that leaves three in four of us who have not. Many
people do not talk to their loved ones about their views on
organ donation, which means that families often refuse to allow
organs to be donated simply because they are unaware of their
wishes.

The campaign, which will run until September 2008, is set to get
us talking about what we want to happen to our organs when
we die and to encourage more of us in Wales to join the Organ
Donor Register.