Organ Donation Nurses cycle to raise awareness for Transplant Week

Four specialist nurses from the Organ Donation Team will be cycling the NNUH Bike Ride on 6 September to raise awareness of organ donation and to support the hospital charity.

Team Organ Donation will be pedalling the southern section of the Norfolk Tour of Britain Route starting and ending at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to highlight organ donation and the need for families to talk about their wishes. The team are based at hospitals around the region, including NNUH, and the ride marks the start of National Transplant Week (7th September), an NHS Blood and Transplant annual awareness campaign.

Helen Attwell, specialist nurse said, “I am a specialist nurse who works closely with families who are acutely bereaved or grieving, offering organ donation as a choice at the end of the lives of their loved one.

“There are currently more than 9000 people in the UK waiting and hoping for an organ transplant that will save or transform their lives. For many of them transplantation is the only hope of survival as three people are dying every day waiting for an organ transplant and we want to encourage more people to join the organ donor register and make their wishes known to their families.”

“We hope raising awareness of our work makes the discussion with families somewhat easier for them. At the NNUH we give every family the choice to donate when medical circumstances allow. More than 100 of our patients have been donors over the last 10 years, saving and changing the lives of hundreds of people and their families.’’

Louise Cook, Fundraising Manager added, “We are so pleased that four members of the organ donation team are taking part in the bike ride. Their support will raise awareness of how important Organ Donation is to many people in Norfolk and will also help raise money for the hospital charity which supports patients in many other ways.”

It is not too late to sign up and support your favourite bit of the hospital, go online at www.nnuhtoursportive.co.uk