Northampton’s oldest organ transplant patient is urging people to sign the organ donation register

News Date: 
Thursday, September 10, 2020

Northampton’s oldest organ transplant patient is urging people to sign the organ donation register.

Lewis Sander, who is an NPH resident and has lived in council housing all his life, was diagnosed with a heart defect as a teenager. When his health deteriorated in 1988, his consultant calmly told him that “we can fix it and put another one in”! Two and a half years later, while Lewis was playing bowls with his friends, his pager bleeped and he knew the time had come. He made his way to London and underwent a successful heart transplant operation.

Lewis will be celebrating 30 years since the operation in October. He received the heart from a young man who passed away in a car accident, and he says he sits and thinks about the organ donor’s family every year on the anniversary.

He was given a 50/50 chance of dying within five years of the surgery, but is now one of the longest surviving heart-transplant patients in the country. Lewis has also received a kidney transplant and has recovered from cancer, and believes that not donating your organs when you die is a waste.

This week is Organ Donation Week 2020, and Lewis is urging people to speak to their family if they wish to be an organ donor. Although organ donation in the UK has changed to an opt out system, it’s still for you to decide whether or not you want to be an organ donor when you die. As Lewis points out, your family will be asked to support your choice, and so it’s really important to tell them if you want to be a donor and potentially save lives.

You can find out more information, and join the Organ Donation register here: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk