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CERI MILLAR CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT FCA, ASPEN WAITE
World Kidney Day. World Kidney Day (10th March) is a global health awareness campaign focusing on the importance of the kidneys and reducing the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide. With kidney transplants dropping a third during the pandemic and with 148 people on the waiting list in Wales alone, it’s more important than ever to help spread awareness of kidney disease and the incredible stories of those who have helped transform lives through their own kidney donations. One of those incredible stories comes from none other than our very own remarkable Ceri Millar, Chartered Accountant FCA at Aspen Waite. Ceri donated a kidney back in 2017 to help transform the life of a kidney patient she didn’t know, after hearing another altruistic living
kidney donor talking about their experience on the radio. Her story was recently shared in the following press release by NHS Blood and Transplant to coincide with World Kidney Day and we have the privilege of sharing it with you below: With kidney transplants dropping a third during the pandemic, it’s more important than ever for people in Wales to share their organ donation decision and consider living kidney donation. NHS Blood and Transplant says kidney transplant activity is recovering but this World Kidney Day thousands of patients are waiting and could wait longer. As 148 people wait for a kidney transplant in Wales, and with this figure expected to rise*, NHS Blood and Transplant is calling on everyone in Wales to share their organ donation decision and also take a moment to consider living kidney donation this World Kidney Day (Thursday 10 March 2022).
Kidney transplants have been the hardest hit area of organ transplantation throughout the pandemic, with deceased donor transplants down 22% and living donor transplants down 60% - an overall drop in kidney transplants in the UK of 32% in 2020/21, compared to 2019/2020**. This means around 1,100 fewer patients received a kidney transplant in the UK in 2020/21, compared to the year before. In living donor transplantation, 422 patients benefited instead of the usual 1,000 and there were 500 fewer deceased donor transplants**. Sadly, the thousands of people waiting for a kidney transplant in the UK may end up waiting longer for a deceased or living kidney donor as they’ve been unable to have a transplant for most of the pandemic and the waiting list has increased. Living donor transplantation opens up opportunities for patients wating for a kidney transplant by minimising the time people need to rely on dialysis and by offering patients who wait the longest i.e. those who are most difficult to match, are particularly ‘sensitised’ (which means they have higher levels of antibodies which could cause their body to reject a transplanted organ) or are from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background, the chance of a successful transplant.
