FOR them getting one more person onto the organ donor register is something they cherish.

Over the past few weeks I have contacted the families of those who have undergone transplants and asking them to back a Daily Echo campaign getting more people onto the organ donor register.

Thankfully the majority of people have shared their happy stories where their loved one was given another chance of life.

However, there have been those moments when someone hasn’t been lucky.

All of those parents, especially Sebastian’s parents, Laura and Joe, were only too happy to back our Seven Days To Say I Donate campaign – a bid to get 2,000 people to make the life-saving promise.

But the uncomfortable thought lurked at the back of my mind – am I an organ donor?

I remember ticking the box on the driving licence application form consenting to become a donor. Or did I? It was so long ago.

Back when I first filled out the form I was probably like many others who would think they are not suitable candidates.

As someone with a heart condition and having undergone open heart surgery in the past few years I would be one of millions of people who would understandably think that would prevent me from becoming a donor.

But that would just be one of many myths surrounding the process.

Here is a list or what can be donated: kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, pancreas, small bowel, corneas, and tissue.

One donor can save or transform up to nine lives and many more can be helped through the donation of tissues, which includes heart valves, skin, bone, tendons, and eyes.

Very few medical conditions automatically disqualify you from donating.

Medical professionals decide to use your organs and/or tissue based on strict medical criteria.

As the website – organdonation.nhs.uk – says: “Let the doctors decide when you die whether your organs and tissues are suitable for transplants.”

Some of those items, including kidneys, skin, bone or tendons, can be donated while someone is still alive.

Nicky Matthews and Pascale Withey are specialist nurses in organ donation at Southampton General Hospital.

Their job is to speak to families to ask them to donate their loved ones organs when the inevitable comes because they still have the chance to veto their loved ones decision.

Nicky said: “One interesting fact people get worried about signing up to the register is that they would be called upon to donate their organs.

“But the fact is we’re more likely to need a transplant than to be a donor. It’s really only people in intensive care environments who can be donors.”

Many people also think that once they’ve died their inner organs can be recycled.

Pascale said: “It’s less than five percent of people who will be able to donate inner organs.”

Currently in Hampshire there are 260 seriously ill people desperately waiting for a heart transplant and countless more waiting for other vital organs.

As of last month there are 655,269 people across Hampshire were registered on the Organ Donor Register.

That means very few people still get the chance to get that heart, liver or lungs they so desperately need.

Of course it can be very hard for families to let go once the inevitable comes and to let surgeons take the body parts of their recently dearly departed.

Nicky said: “Some people are naturally protective of our loved ones. They may say no [to organ donation] because they don’t know what it entails.”

Stark images of surgeons who have cared for patients for months and then turn into butchers naturally run through most people’s minds.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Nicky said they tell families about the process of donating organs after their relative has died.

“The person is looked after like every other patient. That dignity is maintained throughout,” she said.

Many people think that age is also a factor yet many parents can sign their children up

Nicky said: “There are children out there needing transplants. Most likely their donors will need to be people of small size.”

Two weeks ago I reported on the desperately sad story of 18-month old Sebastian Vavasour who died before a new heart was found.

His mum Laura could only watch as plenty of children went down to theatre to receive new hearts but never saw one for her own child.

“I was on tenterhooks when I was in hospital waiting the transplant,” she previously said.

“My heart would be pounding, when the consultant came to do his ward rounds in the evening thinking ‘is this it? Is this his chance?’

“You’d see other children getting their hearts, you’d be delighted for them but you would be thinking when’s Sebastian’s day going to come?”

The difficulty is that for children the donated organs can only be three times the size at most of the recipients’ intended organ.

It means that some parents will make that selfless sacrifice for the benefit of other children.

“No one wants to go think of their children dying, but thinking about getting them onto the register doesn’t make it any more likely that it’s going to happen,” Laura added.

For Nicky, 32, and Pascale 36, they can only hope that more families will agree to donate organs.

The biggest message they can give out is that families need to talk about the inevitability of death so that their loved ones wishes can fulfilled.

Nicky said: “People are happy to talk about what holiday they go but they are worried about talking about organ donation and dying, but that’s something that will happen to all of us.”

Any myths I harboured before I began this campaign have been well and truly busted.

For me, despite any health issues I have, I can see no reason why I can’t sign up to the organ donor register.

I hope many others make the same decision as me.

A third of UK adults admit they haven’t considered organ donation or decided if they want to be an organ donor.

Across Hampshire there are 260 people waiting for a transplant.

Every day in the UK three people die in need of a transplant.

One donor can save or transform up to nine lives and many more can be helped through the donation of tissues.

There are currently 655,269 people registered on the Organ Donor Register.

Last year 85 people in the county had their lives saved or transformed thanks to deceased organ donation.

Tragically, the UK has one of the lowest rates in Europe for families consenting to organ donation and in 2014/15 only 58% agreed to donate their family members’ organs after they died.

This is in contrast to:

• 7 in 10 adults have told a loved one how they would spend a lottery win

• Almost two thirds have discussed their preference for burial or cremation

• Nearly half have confided the part of their body they would most like to change

• 47% have shared destinations they dream of travelling to before they die

Of those who have had a conversation about organ donation with a loved one an overwhelming 93% said it was an easy conversation to have - although nearly a quarter (23%) admitted that chat was over five years ago.

To join the organ donor register visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23