Article by Stephan Lehman

“We subdue the fears and misconceptions that many people have around organ donations.”

With the hopes of creating awareness about August being National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month, Organ Donor Foundation (ODF) Eastleigh and Croydon residents Jackie Allen (seated) and Julie Reilly-Day (standing) met with the NEWS to discuss some of their duties as volunteers.

With the hopes of creating greater awareness about August being National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month, Organ Donor Foundation (ODF) Eastleigh and Croydon residents Jackie

Allen and Julie Reilly-Day met with the NEWS/Express/GCN/Thembisan to discuss some of their duties as volunteers.

According to the ODF, Covid-19 has had an immediate impact on transplant activity as the infection became more widespread throughout the world. A successful organ donation relies on many factors that have to fall into place.

The foundation said donor hospitals must make a timely referral of potential donors to organ procurement officers, who in turn need to coordinate with intensive care units to undertake the necessary testing and screening measures to exclude SARS-CoV-2 and pneumonitis caused by the virus.

If a person dies while actively infected by Covid-19, their organs will not be viable to be donated.

Similarly, none of the SA Tissue Banks currently accept tissue from donors who died due to Covid-19-related conditions.

The high number of Covid-19 patients being admitted has led to shortages of hospital beds, ventilators and staff with many doctors and nurses being reassigned to Covid-19 wards.

“An even more devastating factor is a result of hospital visitor restrictions where family members cannot be present at the hospitals, which poses a significant barrier to obtaining timely donation consent from the next of kin,” explained the foundation.

As volunteers, the sisters’ main responsibilities include creating awareness-hosting events and attending events on behalf of the ODF.

Officially, Jackie and Julie have been volunteers for six years; however, they have been advocates of the foundation for several decades.

Jackie and Julie became volunteers after Jakie’s husband, Steve, fell ill and needed a liver transplant.

Jackie took up the challenge to become a volunteer and create greater awareness after she was challenged by her husband’s doctor.

“We subdue the fears and misconceptions that many people have around organ donations,” said Julie.

“As volunteers, we realise that organ donation can be a difficult topic to talk about, but it is the ultimate way of paying it forward so your legacy can mean something and help someone else.

“We were put on this earth to help others. If you have the power to save others, why wouldn’t you do it?” asked Jackie.

Jackie said before the pandemic, she and Julie would attend one or two awareness events a month; however, because of lockdown regulations, they have come to a stop.

Although Covid-19 has had an impact on the number and type of awareness events being held, the sisters continue to try to raise awareness for the ODF for when restrictions are eased again.

The ODF called on community members to become organ or tissue donors.

The foundation explained that for a transplant to take place, a donor who matches the blood type of the recipient and meets several other criteria, such as tissue typing and antibody cross-matching is needed.

“This is a complex process and can often disqualify a potential donor if a matching recipient cannot be found,” said the foundation.

It is, therefore, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, critical that the pool of available donors is bigger to increase the chance for a suitable match.

The ODF highlighted that more registered organ and tissue donors will help alleviate the unusual pressure being placed by Covid-19 on transplantation.