Become a living donor
Across the UK, more than 1,000 people each year donate a kidney or part of their liver while they are still alive to a relative, friend or someone they do not know.
The most commonly donated organ by a living person is a kidney. A healthy person can lead a normal life with only one functioning kidney and therefore they are able to donate the other to help someone in need of a kidney transplant. Part of a liver can also be transplanted from a living donor to help someone in need of a liver transplant.
Why do we need more living organ donors?
In the UK, around 5,000 people are in need of a kidney transplant to transform their lives, and hundreds of patients die each year waiting for a transplant due to a shortage of organ donors.
The average waiting time for a kidney transplant from someone who has died is more than two and a half years. For some ethnic groups and people for whom it is difficult to find a compatible donor, the wait is even longer. Sadly, some people die waiting.
What can I donate?
Different kinds of living organ donation
Further information
- Watch the Transplant TV film series about living donation
- What is 'Organ donation transplantation'?
- Visit the charity website 'Give a kidney'
- British Transplantation Society
- European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT)
Interested in becoming a living tissue donor?
You can donate bone or part of your placenta by contacting:
- 0800 432 0559 - National Tissues Referral Centre (freephone)
- national.referral.centre
@nhsbt.nhs.uk
Read more about bone and placenta donation.
Get involved
Help us to promote living donation by sharing these images and statistics.