A WOMAN whose husband died while waiting for a heart transplant has made an emotional plea backing national proposals for more organ donors.

It is 13 years since Barbara Boyce lost her husband - and she still feels robbed today.

Jimmy Boyce, collapsed and died at the couple's home after suffering from a heart attack.

He had been waiting for a heart transplant after his health began to deteriorate the year before.

Barbara, of Rawcliffe, said: "Every day healthy organs are being burned in the crematorium - if one of them had been donated I might not be a widow today, and I am sure there are many people like me.

"I do feel because of the circumstances that I was robbed of the chance of a happy partnership. Life can be lonely."

Barbara is supporting calls by NHS chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson for an opt-out organ donor system.

Under current rules, people enrol on the NHS Organ Donor Register so that their organs can be used if they die.

But Sir Liam wants a system under which people would be automatically put on the system and would have to opt out if they did not want their organs to be used.

He said this would mean there would be far more organs available to meet a desperate shortage of donors - with one person currently dying every day while on a waiting list.

Barbara had been married to Jimmy for less than a year when he died in 1994.

He had started to become breathless the year before and doctors said he was suffering from an enlarged heart.

He was put on the transplant list on Christmas Eve, 1993, but died just a month later.

Labour leader John Smith, who himself died of a heart attack just a few months later, gave a speech at his memorial service.

Barbara said nothing had changed for those people desperately waiting for a transplant in the 13 years since her husband died.

She said: "We hear stories of people whose lives have been transformed by a transplant, we occasionally hear desperate appeals for organs for ill people, but we never hear of those that die before an organ becomes available.

"Perhaps this is understandable as it would be discouraging for patients waiting for an operation - but nonetheless people are dying unnecessarily.

"People should consider an opt-out system - it would be the most appropriate. It does tend to be something that gets forgotten.

"A transplant could have been the end of Jimmy's health problems. We would have been able to get back to a normal life."

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register, phone 0845 6060400.


Donor debate

The Press reported last week how the Government's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, suggested moving to an opt-out system of donor registration in his annual report.

Sir Liam said there was a "grave shortage" of organs for transplantation, with one person a day dying while waiting for a transplant.

An opt-out system, similar to that used in many European countries, would mean there were far more organs available for transplant, he said.

"There are simply not enough organs donated to meet the need for transplants, with one person dying every day while waiting for a transplant," Sir Liam said.

Under the present opt-in system people enrol on the NHS Organ Donor Register to give permission for their organs to be used in the event of their death.

An opt-out system would mean people would register to say they specifically do not want to be donors.