Families are increasingly turning down requests to donate a relative's organs, sometimes because their loved one's wishes were unknown. With the transplant waiting list at a 10-year high, the NHS is urging people to talk about what they would want . "He was so much, so many things, a genuinely lovely man.
" Lesley Clarke smiles as she remembers her late partner, Richard Still. The retired nurse and lecturer suffered a brain haemorrhage at their home in Reepham near Lincoln on 2 September 2022. The ambulance came almost immediately, but they knew it was serious.
Mr Still could not be saved and his life support machine was turned off the next day, after Ms Clarke agreed to donate his organs. She says knowing how he felt about the issue helped. "Richard was incredibly keen on transplants and he used to nag me, 'what do you want to do?' and I was a bit wishy washy about it and wouldn't really answer.
" Mr Still's kidneys went for research and part of one eye - the cornea - was donated. Ms Clarke says: "I had a lovely letter from the patient, saying what a difference it had made to their life, that they could now see again. "It made me realise, it made it real.
"I suppose we might glibly talk about transplants, but to know somebody has benefited from it to that degree does make it real and important." An "opt-out" law was introduced in Wales in 2015, followed by England in 2020, Scotland in 2021 and Northern Ireland in 2023. It means all adults are considered to have agreed to be po.