Make the pledge – and give the gift of sight!

Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (QVH) is calling on people to pledge to become an organ donor and give others the gift of sight.

Last week was National Organ Donation Week, the 30^th anniversary of the annual event, which seeks to bring awareness about the ongoing need for organ donors.

When someone registers as an organ donor, they can also choose to donate their corneas. Almost anyone can donate their corneas even if they have had cataract surgery or wear glasses

The cornea is the clear part at the front of your eye that lets in light so you can see. When it is damaged or diseased, light can no longer enter the eye as normal. Donated corneas are used to replace or repair this during sight saving corneal transplant operations.

At QVH, around 150 corneal transplants a year are carried out by its specialist surgeons, but a national shortage of people donating their corneas after they die, means they can’t do as many as they need to.

Current law assumes that a person agrees to donate their organs and tissue if they have not taken steps to officially opt out. However, no one is automatically added to the Organ Donor Register – people need to confirm the decision if they want their wishes to be known.

Research shows that nine out of 10 families support organ donation if their loved one had expressed their wishes before their death. That’s why it is so important that people have the conversation about organ donation with their loved ones before they die.

QVH has a world-renowned Eye Bank which retrieves corneas from people after they have died and prepares them for transplantation. The team works across Sussex, Surrey and Kent and provides education to medical professionals about the process and importance of conversation around donation.

Organ Donation Week ran until Sunday 29 September, and Dr Nigel Jordan, Head of Department at the QVH Eye Bank, says, “The week is important in helping make more people aware of the real difference they can make to other’s sight and quality of life if they become a donor”.

Nigel said: “Nationally there are not enough people donating their corneas meaning surgeons like the ones we have here at QVH cannot perform as many operations as they need to.

“Even people who may be unable to donate their organs or other tissues can often become cornea donors. There is no upper age limit for eye donors, and they are very simple to donate. But we need more. We see the difference a donated cornea can make, whether that is saving someone’s eye, improving their vision, or enabling someone to see again”.

“It’s not just adults that need corneal transplants. We are one of very few hospitals in the country that carry out these operations for children who are born with eye conditions or have had accidents. This is a particularly specialist procedure because of the complex and long term follow-up involved”

People can need cornea transplants for quite a number of reasons including:

• Disease or injury that has made the cornea cloudy or distorted, causing vision loss
  Scarring of the cornea after infections such as corneal ulcers or herpes (the cold sore virus)
• Keratoconus (thinning of the cornea that causes a cone-like bulge to develop, usually in young people)
• Age or inherited conditions that may lead to cloudiness of the cornea

Nigel added: “Our message is that we would like everyone to have a conversation with their friends and family about their wishes when it comes to donation as family support is needed for donation to go ahead.

“Even if the person who has died wanted to donate; if their loved ones aren’t aware they may not know what to do and if they don’t fully support the process donation won’t happen.

“It is also vitally important that medical staff involved in a patient’s end of life care are made aware of the patient’s wishes so they know to contact the Eye Bank”

“So, please, have these conversations. We know first-hand it is a life-changing gift.”

Find out more about organ donation week Organ Donation Week 2024 – NHS Organ Donation