Spotlight on: Specialist Nurse Organ Donation team
As part of our week marking Organ Donation, meet the specialist nurses and find out about the important work they do.
Our Specialist Nurse Organ Donation team (SNOD) work with colleagues across our hospital to support patients at the end of their lives and their families through the process of organ donation in order to help others in desperate need of life-saving transplants.
Debbie Walford, Specialist Nurse Organ Donation, said: “Our main duties involve supporting patients and families throughout the donation process.
“There are three of us in the Specialist Nurse Organ Donation team here at NNUH, we work closely with the clinical teams here, the National Organ Retrieval Service and the national transplanting centres to co-ordinate the complexities of organ donation to try and ensure a supportive, cohesive and inspiring journey that aims to keep our patients at the heart of all we do.
“We provide specialist support services with both dedicated clinical nurses and 24-hour support teams to help medical and nursing teams in the assessment and care of a potential donor as well as providing emotional support to patients and their families.
“We work with teams across the hospital to collaborate in caring for a potential donor and speaking with their families about their donation decision. We also work within the community to raise awareness of organ donation and encourage everyone to consider whether they would like to help others at the end of their life – and to register that decision on the organ donation register.
“We work closely with families to ensure we have informed consent for organ donation to proceed. It is very important to us that the families can ask any questions that they may have about the procedure to ensure that they are as comfortable as possible during this incredibly sensitive time.
“A number of our families express that they have taken comfort in knowing that something good came out of the tragedy of losing their loved one.”
Natasha Leggett, 35, received a life-saving double lung and heart transplant as a teenager after being seriously ill as a child and met her donor’s family in 2019.
Natasha said: “When I was 13 years old, I suffered from a heart block while at home, which was the starting point of my deterioration. At the age of 14 I was listed for a heart transplant. We were told that if I didn’t have a transplant within a year, I wouldn’t make it.”
Due to further complications, Natasha was eventually moved on to the heart and lung transplant list.
“Waiting for a phone call for a life-saving transplant was very surreal. But it also felt quite wrong to hope for this call, as it would also mean that someone was losing their life.”
On July 17, 2005, the call came through for Natasha, and in the early hours of the next day, she underwent her successful double transplantation.
“I’ve been living my life as normal as I can and trying to make the most of my second chance at life. I managed to learn to drive and buy my first car. I graduated from university with a bachelor’s degree.
“In January 2019, I met the family of my donor, an 11-year-old boy with a heart of gold. It was such a special day, and I will always cherish it. They were so pleased to know I was healthy and happy. We talked for hours as if we’d known each other for years, and they are some of the kindest and most generous people I have ever met. Seeing me, they knew they’d made the right decision to donate their son’s organs. He not only saved me, he saved at least two other people by also donating his liver and kidneys.”
If you would like to register to become an Organ Donor, register to donate in less than 10 minutes using the online form: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-your-decision/donate/
We are proud to be supporting Organ Donation Week 2024. At any one time 7,600 people need a transplant to change or save their lives.
Watch how Amanda’s life was transformed after she underwent a corneal transplant here at NNUH.