Record numbers of organ donors

Number of organ donors in Scotland reaches record high.

Record numbers of Scots are willing to donate their organs to save lives with more than two million now signed up.

Official figures show that the number of people on the NHS Organ Donor Register in Scotland has exceeded two million for the first time, with 2,025,400 people on the register on March 31 this year. That is equal to around 40% of the population.

But the government warns that while the record high is a great achievement, even more donors are needed to help save the 600 people across Scotland still waiting for a life-saving transplant.

Three people in the UK die every day because they don't get the organ they need in time.

New dad David Speers, who is waiting for a kidney transplant, is calling for more people to join the register.

Mr Speers, 34, who works in the oil and gas industry in Aberdeen, was told he has chronic kidney failure in 2009. He has been on the transplant list since June last year.

He said: "I was at that point in life where I was doing all the adult things you do: getting married, getting a mortgage, life insurance and looking forward to starting a family.

"It all seemed routine but fortunately the doctor doing my medical picked up signs of excessive blood and protein in my urine and referred me to a consultant who, after doing a biopsy, told me I had kidney failure.

"I count myself lucky that it was diagnosed when it was. I had no symptoms and was always fit and healthy.

"My story is not unique or special. I am just a normal guy with a positive outlook on life, a loving wife and daughter, while also waiting on a life-changing transplant.

"There are so many people waiting on transplants and coping with a lot more than me. If from reading this, just one extra person joins the NHS Organ Donor Register then I have achieved something.

"Please join the register now. You can text or go online. It's that easy and you could help save and change lives after you're gone."

For more information on organ donation, visit the STV Health Centre, brought to you by NHS inform.