To progress on the organ transplant front we need to be ready to talk about death
Opinion: donation of organs should be a natural conclusion of the life cycle
A transplant operation: organs donated can be found unsuitable, for a variety of reasons. Photograph: PA
When the word “transplant” is mentioned for the first time it lights a fire beneath you. After years of degenerative illness there is suddenly a new goal: it means waiting for someone to die so that you can live. It’s confusing, it’s devastating, it’s enlightening and immediately you are propelled to do everything, and then nothing.