Celebrity chef Tony Singh is backing NHS Golden Jubilee’s support for Organ and Tissue Donation Week, paying an emotional tribute to a friend who carried the organ donor card since he was the age of 7.

NHS Golden Jubilee in Clydebank is home to Scotland’s only heart transplantation unit, which collaborates with the NHS Blood and Transplant service.

The national health board provides regional and national heart and lung services for patients and health boards all across NHSScotland, and since the service moved to the site in 2008, the heart transplant team has performed an incredible 189 procedures.

Transplantation is only possible thanks to the generosity of organ donors and every year Organ and Tissue Donation Week raises awareness of the importance of making organ donation decision known of the Organ Donation Register, as well as paying tribute to organ donors and families who have given the gift of life to others.

Ben Dodson was just 31-years-old when he died 5 years ago following a motorcycle accident. Originally from Southport, Ben had been living in Edinburgh for 8 years at the time of his death.

He was well known in the hospitality industry in the capital, working in many popular bars and restaurants, including one of celebrity chef and restaurateur Tony Singh’s restaurants, Olorosso.

Ben had carried the organ donor card since he was just 7-years-old after becoming intrigued about it on a trip to the GP with his mum Kari.

As the annual campaign draws to a close this weekend, Mr Singh paid an emotional tribute to Ben and is urging people to sign up to the organ donation register to ensure families know the wishes of loved ones who would like to donate their organs.

He said: "Ben was a total superstar. Quick to smile and make others laugh, a real force behind the bar. It was a great privilege to have him on my team. When he died, we were absolutely devastated. He was so young and taken far too early yet, he still managed to give life to others.

“That's why I believe organ donation is so important. Even in the darkest of times, life can still be preserved. The compassion Ben had at 7 to decide to be a donor and the strength his family shared in honouring his wishes when he was no longer with us is truly amazing. 

“No matter what your background, if you can sign up, do."

Ben was in ICU in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for 6 days before his death and the news he wasn’t going to make it was devastating for mum Kari Robert and the rest of his family and friends.

Kari took comfort in the fact that Ben’s organs would help others live.

She said: “It was thanks to Tony’s guidance and example that Ben recognised his own passion for the hospitality industry. 

“Ben had carried the organ donor card since he was 7 and we absolutely wanted to honour his wishes because we always knew what his wishes were.

“We had gone to the GP surgery and he saw this box of cards and wanted to know what they were for so I explained it to him and he said, ‘right, can I have one of those mum?’, and that was it! We filled in the form and he carried the card with him ever since. All his life.

“It was obviously a very distressing time as Ben had been in intensive care for 6 days before the doctors told us there was no hope of recovery.

“But then immediately we all started talking about organ donation once we knew Ben wasn’t going to survive. It’s not an easy conversation to have because you know he’s going to die, but it was easy in the respect that we knew exactly what his wishes were. Ben made that decision for us.

“Our whole family is on the Organ Donation Register, we all support it. At a family memorial service for Ben we had a laptop set up for people to sign up to the register at the event and loads of people signed up on the day.”

Specialist Nurse for Organ Donation at NHS Golden Jubilee, Alison Mitchell, has told of her “immense pride” at providing comfort to grieving families, while also helping transform the lives of others who receive life-saving or life-changing organs.

Alison is part of the team at NHS Golden Jubilee, and was the nurse who guided Kari and Ben’s family through the organ donation process.

Alison is responsible for facilitating the organ donation process by making a full and thorough assessment of a patient’s suitability to be a donor to ensure any resulting transplants are as safe as possible.

A very important and definitive part of her role requires Alison to explore and discuss a patient’s end of life decisions around donation with their families – in basic terms, asking families if someone else can have their loved ones’ organs so they can continue to live.

It is a highly emotional and complex situation, which has to be handled with extreme sensitivity, something Alison has been doing for the past 14 years.

Alison said: “Each family is unique and the circumstances in which their loved one has died will affect them in different ways. Previous experiences, beliefs and other influences may contribute to attitudes and decision making around donation.

“My role is to provide families with information around what steps have to be taken for organ donation to progress and navigate through any fears or concerns they may have by listening and answering questions honestly.

“Families may not know their loved ones’ views, about donation and find themselves at this extremely difficult and emotional time, faced with the added burden of having to make the right decision.”

To donate organs after death, a person needs to die in hospital in specific circumstances – such as in an intensive care unit (ICU) where the process can be swift, organised and monitored at every step.

Because of this, only 1% of people die in circumstances that enable them to be organ donors, so available organs are as precious as the lives they prolong.

Alison added: “For those families who know their loved one’s decision, they will mostly feel reassured that the decision has already been made and it makes them feel more confident and comfortable in supporting the donation of their loved ones’ organs.

“Many families take great comfort in knowing that their loved one has saved and transformed the life, or lives, of others.

“I feel immensely proud that my work contributes to the life-saving work of transplantation and that not only can I provide the additional comfort to families of organ donors. I am also in a small way responsible for affecting the lives of transplant recipients, their family and friends from health boards all around Scotland.”

For more information on Organ Donation Week and how to register your decision, www.organdonation.nhs.uk.

Be the difference

Black, Asian and minority ethnic patients have to wait significantly longer for a successful match than white patients due to a shortage of suitable matched donors.

If you are Black, Asian or belong to a minority ethnic group, your decision to become an organ donor could increase the chances of someone from the same ethnic background finding a suitable match.

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