UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Following a bit of a muddle on another string, I contacted the NHS ODR for advice on whether it is possible to be a tissue donor after having received transplanted tissue from somebody else.

Here is the answer that came today from Christine Cole

Dear Mr MacLean

Thank you for your email to the NHS Organ Donor Register.

I have recently been asked the same question and had sought some advice from a transplant unit co-ordinator. I have been told that any one who has received a transplant in their lifetime is unable to donate any organs or tissue in the event of their death. In cornea/ sclera grafting, there is an increased risk of transmitting nvCJD.

I hope this information helps?

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your concern for others and to wish you the very best for the future.

Yours sincerely

Miss Christine Cole
ODR Team Leader

If you have a donor card, you ought to let the Organ Donor Register know that you have had a graft.

Andrew

thanks that answers a question i had- its a shame we cant help others when someone was kind enough to let us have their cornea, at least i know now

that sucks quite frankly. However I guess we can be used for research purposes? Oh well. thanks for the info

Having tissue used for research purposes is a help to others, perhaps not as spectacular as having part of us living on in somebody else, but still every bit as important.

Just make sure that the ODR knows that you have had a transplant; they will flag your file so that if the occasion ever arises the information will be available.

Andrew

ps By the way: when my children (then still pre-school) found out that the time might come when I would need to have "the little windows at the front of my eyes" replaced by donated tissue, they each insisted on having their own donor cards: they carry donor cards still to this day and are on the national register.