ASHLEY Parker today looks ahead to the future and smiles: "Whatever I do, I'm planning on living a long time." Yet his optimism, something he could never have imagined a few short weeks ago, is down to a complete stranger.

At only 24, Ashley suffered double kidney failure. He doubted he would see his 30s without a transplant.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, he has received a new kidney and, with it, the gift of life.

But Ashley is one of the lucky ones. It is estimated more than 1,000 patients die every year waiting for an organ to become available.

The facts are these. Nine-out-of-ten people say they support donation. In reality, less than a quarter of us are on the donor register.

This despite years of continuous nationwide campaigning to get us to "carry the card".

Several months ago, The Press used this column to back Prime Minister Gordon Brown in his support of an alternative system whereby we are all presumed to have consented to be donors unless we have specifically opted out.

It is an emotive issue, requiring full discussion on the tricky moral aspects that are clearly involved.

We also accept that some safeguards would have to be built in to ensure anyone unhappy about organ donation does not come under unseemly pressure.

But for every week that passes, more patients face the prospect of dying while still on the waiting list.

Thankfully, Ashley Parker won't be one of them. That can't be said for the rest.