KIDNEY Patient Roy Brown Waited Three Long Years for a Transplant

By Diana Prince
dprince@eveningherald.co.uk
Plymouth Herald - 19/07/2007

KIDNEY patient Roy Brown waited three long years for a transplant, undergoing painful dialysis at Derriford Hospital three times a week.
Today the 61-year-old from Hartley supported a call to change laws surrounding donors, saying anything which leads to shorter waiting times for organs will be a life-saving move for patients.
The Government's chief medical officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson yesterday called for an 'opt-out' approach to the NHS organ donor register instead of the current 'opt-in' method.
Mr Brown, who finally received a new kidney in September last year, said: "I'm very much in favour of changing organ donor arrangements— it can only be a good thing for patients.
"I knew a woman who was having dialysis at the same time as me who died before anything could be done. It is a tragic waste when people don't sign the register."
Mr Brown, a former naval base project control manager, had been on dialysis for three years after one of his kidneys was removed after developing cysts five years ago. After years of dialysis and two years on the organ waiting list, he received a kidney on September 13 and says his life is now greatly improved.
"If there were more organs available perhaps I could have been sorted after months instead of three years.
"For that time it felt like I only had half a life — and even that half wasn't 100 per cent.
"Now I feel much, much better; I have more energy and am able to exercise. My time is my own again."