Have a heart Hunt.. change the law now
Children and adults continue to die waiting for an organ to save them
MAX Johnson is the same age as my little girl.
Each time I look at him with that horrific gash running down his chest, I can’t help but think of my daughter and the healthy heart which beats inside of her. And think of how different that could be.
They are two kids of the same age yet my little girl Eve is spending the summer swimming, playing rounders, football, tennis and doing cartwheels in the park while Max spends day in day out in hospital waiting for a transplant which will enable him to live again.
Every day two people die waiting for a transplant operation which could save them. Unless this country takes proper action very soon, Max may well be one of them.
Until now this country has depended on people taking the time and effort to fill out a donation form to secure enough organs for transplant. Have you done that?
I think I did years ago although I can’t find the bit of paper now.
The reality is our current organ donation system doesn’t work. It’s just not good enough.
And as a result children and adults continue to die waiting for a healthy organ. Wales and Scotland have had the gumption to stand up and say that they need better and now it is presumed anyone who dies wants their organs to be donated to someone else unless they have explicitly stated otherwise.
And that is what we must have in England too. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has mumbled that he’s considering it.
Still?
Really?
How long does it take to consider?
How much longer must Max sit in a hospital bed waiting for Mr Hunt and his pals to do their considering and for more donors to become available? Making laws is not easy. No one ever said so. But in this case it could not be simpler.
The Mirror’s campaign to change the law on organ donation will save more lives than we can imagine. We should all lobby our MPs to support it.
It is nothing short of a disgrace that this isn’t at the very top of Jeremy Hunt’s to-do list.
For every moment Jeremy Hunt prevaricates, it’s a moment that little Max waits.
And that just isn’t right.