DonateLife Week Urges People To Consider Organ Donation

With DonateLife Week coming up, Bernie Scott and Maree Martin are urging people to consider registering as organ donors.

DonateLife Week, happening from July 24 to 31, plays a vital role in encouraging more Australians to register to be an organ and tissue donor, with over 108,000 new registrations recorded on the Australian Organ Donor Register in 2021.

Both Mr Scott and Ms Martin became DonateLife advocates after receiving life-changing double lung transplants.

“In a moment of tears and crying and ‘I’m still alive,’ was, ‘okay, what do I do now to pay back,’” said Ms Martin.

Mr Scott says the benefits of more people registering include more availability of organs resulting in expansion of facilities and more training and research into organ transplantation.

“We’ve got some world-leading people in Australia in terms of transplants, in both the surgery but also in research,” he said.

“There’s a lot of different feelings out there about the process.

“The ultimate outcome, despite all the feelings around it, is that it saves lives.

“I came out of that hospital after a two-week period and I hadn’t felt that good in years.

"I would like to see as many people as possible do this because they never know who they’re going to be helping – it could be your own family.”

While the majority of Australians support organ and tissue donation, only 36% are registered to be a donor.

There are currently around 1,750 Australians on the waitlist for an organ transplant with an additional 13,000 people on dialysis, some in need of a kidney transplant.

“Everyone’s in the same boat – it doesn’t really matter who you are or what you do or your place in society, it comes down to who’s got the greater need at the time, and again this is what underscores the need for more donors,” said Mr Scott.

Ms Martin says there is a common misconception that people with illness and of advanced age are precluded from being a donor.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re 17 or 97, still sign up,” she said.

“Even though you think you’re old, there’s parts of you that are still quite great.”

After DonateLife Week, Mr Scott and Ms Martin’s focus will turn to DonateLife Day, happening at the Mackay Turf Club on September 6.

Visit www.donatelife.gov.au to find out more and to register and make sure to inform your family of your wishes.

‍

Bernie Scott and Maree Martin became DonateLife advocates after receiving life-changing double lung transplants