TO celebrate 2013 DonateLife Week, the Gift of Life Annual Walk kicked off on the Canberra foreshore with around 2500 people turning out to support organ and tissue donation.

DonateLife and Gift of Life are encouraging everyone to become an active organ and tissue donor, as Australia has one of the lowest donation rates in the developed world. In 2011, 337 organ donors gave 1001 transplant recipients a new chance of life, however there are still around 1600 people on the Australian organ transplant waiting list at any one time.

An organ recipient himself and president of Gift of Life, Mr David O’Leary, said that events such as this help promote growing awareness of organ and tissue donation and help break down some of the myths surrounding donating.

“Twenty-two years ago I was travelling overseas and I picked up hepatitis. I was perfectly healthy and all of a sudden I was at death’s door in a coma and I was lucky enough to get a liver transplant,” said Mr O’Leary.

“So to be still standing and organising this walk today… it’s good for me and my family, but it’s also a message for other people out there that organ donation can make a huge difference to people’s lives.”

The discussion you have with your family about death and dying should be all inclusive. Even if you have registered on the Australian Organ Donor Register, donation will not proceed without your family’s consent. Families are less likely to give consent if they do not know the wishes of the dying person.

Among the faces of local, State and Federal politicians at the walk was Jon Seccull, father of Australia’s first paediatric organ donor to donate after cardiac death. To help raise awareness, Jon had ridden his motorbike from Wallace in rural Victoria, in honour of his son Ethan.

“Ethan was three years old in October 2011 when he was struck by a train and passed away as a result of his injuries. My wife and I decided to turn the life support machines off and donate his organs,” said Mr Seccull.

“It’s all about getting out there and spreading the word and letting people know that it’s ok to have the conversation. Talk to your family about it, it’s not a taboo subject.

“Put yourself in the position; if it was a loved one that was requiring an organ, you would do anything to get that.”

This process was all too familiar for close friends Gaynor Stewart and Christine Svarcas. When Gaynor was in her early 30s, she contracted kidney disease and was looking at spending the next seven years on dialysis until an organ donor became available.

“We started doing all the testing because my good friend Christine had offered me [her organ] throughout my illness,” said Gaynor.

Upon hearing of her friend’s situation, Christine signed herself up as an organ and tissue donor to do whatever she could to help out a friend in need.

“When Gaynor rang I went through the testing process and it took quite a few months … what happens is you do that through a co-ordinator at the local hospital which then proceed with compatibility tests and also if your body can survive with only one kidney,’ said Christine.

But Christine insists that no physical issues have occurred as a result of the transplant.

“I’m probably fitter and healthier now then I was before I donated,” she said.

To register as an organ donor, or for more information, visit the Australian Human Services website.

The ehospice website can be reached at ehospice.com/australia