Northampton's oldest transplant patient urges public to sign organ donation register after surviving for 30 years with new heart

A Northampton transplant patient, who is celebrating 30 years since his heart operation on October 6, has said not donating your organs when you die 'is a waste'.

It comes as this week marks National Organ Donation week, which sees the National Lift Tower in Northampton lit up for three nights, with the message 'Let's Talk About Organ Donation'.

It is hoped the message shown on one of Northampton's main landmarks will raise awareness that a change in the law last year now means that if a person has not made their consent for donation clear, it could mean that all adults have agreed to become organ donors when they die.

Lewis Sander, who is originally from Abington and worked at the Skoda Car Nation Garage, was a recipient of a young man's heart who passed away in a car crash 30 years ago.

"Every year I will sit in the chair and I will sit and have a quiet think about the organ donor family. Every year, when my mum was alive, she used to have a little tear for them. I don't think we do enough in this country with organ donation, although we've changed the rules now to opt out.

"I've always said to people 'if you do go on the organ donation register, tell your family, don't keep it quiet'.

"There's a sticker in the back of my car that says don't take your organs to heaven, heaven knows we need them here."

The 71-year-old, who had to shield for four months during lockdown, has also beaten stomach cancer and has had a further kidney, which was caused by the drugs to stop his heart from being rejected.

Mr Sander, the former chairman of the Harefield Transplant Club, is currently one the longest surviving heart transplant patients in the country after being given a 50/50 chance of dying within five years of the surgery.

On the same day of Lewis' transplant, he was playing in a bowls match at 12pm where he got a surprise message from medics on his pager to say he needed to be at Harefield hospital for surgery at 5pm for a five hour operation.

He added: "I've had 30 years I wouldn't have had and I still get about, and I still enjoy life.

"It's a waste of your organs either being buried or cremated. If you're healthy and fit please go on the organ donation register because there's more lives that can be saved."

Currently there is 74 people in Northamptonshire waiting for an organ transplant and only 317,005 residents in the county who are on the register.

Peter Braithwaite, specialist organ donation nurse at Northampton General Hospital, said: "The hardest part of my job is to approach a family who are having the most awful time of their lives and having to ask them what they think that person would want and can they make the decision for them.

"It's so much easier for the family if they know for sure what that person wanted and they could say with confidence yes, go for it, or no, it was not part of their belief structure.

"In British culture it's very much a taboo subject to talk about death and we are trying to change that and we need to be pragmatic and organised.

"We are really proud of the lift tower display and we are hoping it's going to be really eyecatching and people will see it on their way home from work and maybe it might come up in conversation with someone."

If you don't know if you're registered, you can re-register here.