We sort out the truths behind organ donation and transplants from the tales that you might have heard.
Key facts
- The average wait for a kidney transplant is 1,168 days. Meanwhile, those waiting for a liver can expect to wait around 142 days and the wait is around 253 days for a new heart or 412 days, on average, for lungs.
- 10,000 people in the UK currently need an organ transplant. Every day, around 3 of them will die waiting.
- 96% of us would accept an organ if we needed one, but only 31% of us have joined the Organ Donor Register.
- One donor can save or transform the lives of up to nine people
- 45% of families say no to donation because they don’t know what their loved one would have wanted. So tell your family you want to be an organ donor – don’t leave them to guess.
All of the UK's major faiths including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism support organ donation and transplantation. Anyone who has doubts as to whether their religion or faith allows them to donate is encouraged to seek advice from their local religious leader.
Myths
It has been reported that recipients sometimes take on characteristics of their donors. While NHSBT is aware of the suggestion that transplant recipients take on aspects of the personality of the organ donor, the organisation is not aware of any evidence to support it.
Stories include:
- A man in Leicester claimed he gained a love of baking, shopping and dogs, an animal he previously did not like, after getting kidney from his wife.
- A woman from Lancashire claimed her literary tastes changed radically after a kidney transplant, swapping celebrity biographies for Crime and Punishment.
- An American man was suddenly able to paint after receiving the heart of an artistic young man