Saving lives

So you want to do a good deed - but deadlines are looming, it’s Mother’s day and you still haven’t got a card, and you have to catch up on all the reading you missed out on whilst the SUSU elections consumed your life... fret not. Save your conscience with one of the simplest and best good deeds there is.

Register for organ donation.

When that (hopefully distant) day comes, do we want someone else to have our organs? If you do, tell the official organ donation register. 

Why register?

Three people die every day waiting for an organ transplant. Your organs and tissues won't only save lives, they can allow people to see again, not have to go to hospital every day, to live a far happier life. Surely we all want something wonderfully positive to come out of our death – what is more positive than another’s life!

I'm a member of Southampton Hub, which has teamed up with the Southampton Organ Donation awareness society to run an Organ Donor Drive!

University of Southampton students love to get involved with great causes. I have had first-hand experience of this and I know that our student body is a caring one. However, I also know that the end of term is drawing in. It's a ridiculously busy time, which is why this cause is so wonderful – it takes minimum effort.

96% of people agree that organ donation is a good thing, but only 30% of people actually sign up. To try and change this we will be out on the redbrick with computers and iPads and a lot of enthusiasm asking you to do a good deed, to save a life, and to sign up to be an organ donor.

The NHS Organ Donor Register have started a hashtag #ThankYourForLife. We will be asking you all why you are thankful for life, because at the end of our busy days it is easy to forget.

I am thankful for a full life with amazing family and friends, I have an exciting future and a wonderful past and I honestly couldn’t be luckier! I know that I want my organs given to as many people as possible after my death because life is precious. If I was dying I’d accept a donation and if my sisters were ill I would pray for an organ donation. I encourage you wholeheartedly to sign up. You have the potential to save several lives and it really doesn’t cost any effort at all.

If you can’t wait to see us out on campus you can sign up now - http://www.studenthubs.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/organdonation

#ThankYouForLife

Florence