5,000 apply for organ donor cards after appeal by TV scriptwriter

MORE THAN 5,000 people have applied to carry organ cards after Liveline presenter Joe Duffy highlighted the plight of people needing a life-saving transplant this week.

On Monday, award-winning Irish TV scriptwriter Frank Deasy told Mr Duffy that his need for an organ donor had become “very urgent”. The writer, who penned Prime Suspect and The Passion, as well as the recent RTÉ series, Father and Son, has cancer of the liver.

Mr Deasy, who lives in Scotland with his wife, Marie and three children, is waiting for the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh to tell him that a suitable donor has been found.