600 awaiting transplants as donations fall

There are more than 600 people in the country waiting for life-saving transplants, but the number of donors has decreased year-on-year.

Organ Donor Awareness Week begins this weekend. A campaign is underway to increase the number of organ donors after the number fell to 78 last year, compared to 93 in 2011. A total of 206 transplant operations were carried out from organs donated by the 78 donors.

Four-year-old

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Her father John said: "(A transplant) is literally life-giving and life-changing. In Keela's case, she went from being so sick to having another chance at life and it's amazing how fast she recovered.

"To carry a card and be an organ donor is a courageous and life-changing thing. Only for the family that made that choice, we wouldn’t have Keela with us now the way she is, so full of life."