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15/02/2010
A campaign aiming to increase the number of organ donors in Scotland launched today.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said that three people needlessly die each day waiting for a transplant - and 'all Scots have the power to make a difference'.
Backed by TV adverts with the message Spare Clare, as well as radio promotions, billboards and direct marketing, the £500,000 campaign aims to increase the number of potential lifesavers on the NHS organ donor register.
Ms Sturgeon said:
"Organ transplants transform lives and mean that something positive can come out of a loved one's death.
"In Scotland, as well as getting more people on the register, we're working to increase the number of transplants carried out by investing in more donor transplant co-ordinators and raising awareness. And our efforts are paying off - last year we had 72 donors, which is a 10-year high.
"But we can do more and we want to build on our achievement, particularly as international comparisons show we should be able to more than double this number.
"I've seen the difference a transplant can make and, by signing up to the organ donor register, we can all become potential lifesavers and give the gift of life."
Helping launch the campaign was Claire Riley from Perthshire who received a liver transplant six years ago and has gone on to lead a healthy life and now has two children.
She said:
"I would be very grateful, as would hundreds of families throughout the country whose loved ones are still waiting on a transplant, if you could support this campaign.
"This year's campaign encourages Scots to think if they would Spare Clare - Yes or No? As a Claire who has been spared I can only urge people to give the gift of life.
"Just ask yourself one question - if your friend, family member or work colleague needed an organ, would you want them spared?"
John Forsythe, Scotland's lead clinician for organ donation and transplantation, said:
"In the last few years, organ donor numbers have begun to rise in Scotland. This means that people like Claire, who otherwise face a bleak outlook with organ failure, are given the opportunity of life through transplantation.
"In our society, nobody likes talking about death, there is a taboo about the subject. However those people who have elected to join the organ donor register or who have spoken with their families about organ donation at the time of death make a most generous decision which allows others to live.
"The Scottish public have responded to the need for organ donation and transplantation with generosity. We hope that the publicity campaign encourages more to think about this difficult subject and perhaps we will increase further the number of transplants carried out in the country."
The 40 second TV commercial - Spare Clare - will run on STV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 from today for four weeks. Billboard posters will also be used throughout Scotland.
The campaign also features direct marketing, online advertising and a radio promotion - the Great Donate - which will run on all Scottish Bauer Radio stations.
A leaflet is being sent to GP surgeries, pharmacies and libraries explaining the way the law in Scotland emphasises the importance of fulfilling people's wishes to donate their organs for transplantation.
To sign up to the Organ Donor Register, go to: www.infoscotland.com/organdonor or text LIFE to 61611.
Case study 
Claire Riley's life was transformed after receiving a liver transplant six years ago.
The mum-of-two, of Perth, started having severe stomach pains in her 20s and would be doubled over in agony. Doctors diagnosed ulcer colitis and treated the condition with tablets but it developed into sclerosis cholangitis - chronic liver disease, caused by inflammation and scarring of the ducts of the liver.
For more than a year she received different treatments but in 2004 doctors decided Claire, who was just 27-years-old, needed a liver transplant.
Claire said: "Doctors had told me at some point I might need a transplant but you never think it will actually happen to you. I was just married when I started to get really ill. I went yellow and people would stare at me in the street. I tried ignoring it but I eventually stopped going out of the house. I was so tired and had to rest a lot."
She was given a pager and told to wait for the call which would change her life. Just six weeks later she received the news she had been waiting for - a liver had been found which was a match.
She said: "I was at home when the call came through. I was really ill at the time, just six and a half stone and had jaundice. My donor transplant coordinator was so excited and hyper and it rubbed off on me, after that it was all a bit of a blur."
Claire's husband Dave travelled in the ambulance with her to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where her transplant was carried out. Despite being in pain for the next four weeks she felt the difference immediately. She said: "Once the liver kicked in I started to feel so much better, it was so different, I had much more strength and it felt like I had a new lease of life. Someone sadly had to pass away for me to live but that person had selflessly joined the Organ Donation Register and was able to help save me."
Following the life-saving operation, Claire went on to have her first baby in 2006, a little boy called Harrison and has just recently had her second son Blair, 14 weeks ago.
The 33-year-old is so thankful for the organ she received.
She said: "Being given the gift of life has allowed me to live a full life, free of pain and anxiety. I have been able to go on and have a family of my own. I now have two young sons and no longer lie on the couch unable to move from tiredness - I can play and have fun with my wonderful children like any other healthy, happy mother."
And she now encourages all Scots to join the Organ Donor Register - "I would be very grateful, as would hundreds of families throughout the country whose loved ones are still waiting on a transplant, if you could support this campaign. This year's campaign encourages Scots to think if they would Spare Clare - Yes or No? As a Claire who has been spared I can only urge people to give the gift of life. Just ask yourself one question- if your friend, family member or work colleague needed an organ, would you want them spared?"