Thousands are living in avoidable sight loss across the UK due to a critical shortage of cornea donors, but a grieving Greater Manchester nurse hopes her sister’s story will inspire others to register
More than 4,000 people across England are waiting for a life-changing cornea transplant, with hundreds facing delays of over a year due to a shortage of donors. Now, the NHS Blood and Transplant department is urging people to reconsider their decision to opt out of cornea donation.
One person lending her voice to the campaign is Juliette Cosgrove, chief nursing officer at the Northern Care Alliance, which runs hospitals and care services across Greater Manchester, including Rochdale, Bury, Oldham and Salford.
Juliette’s younger sister, Louise, also a nurse, died tragically in a car crash in 1996 at the age of 27. Although Louise was unable to donate her organs, Juliette helped her family make the decision to donate her corneas, a choice that may have helped give the gift of sight to others.
“Louise had big brown eyes that everyone remembered,” said Juliette, 59, who lives in Skipton. “She was really fun-loving, kind and had a massive smile. We were incredibly close, we talked every day.”
Juliette recalled the moment her family was told of the crash, which happened as Louise was being driven from Huddersfield to a nursing course in Wakefield.
“The car swerved to avoid something in the road and hit a tree. It was a beautiful sunny day, and everything after that is a bit of a blur,” Juliette said. “But I remembered how strongly Louise felt about organ donation. She would have wanted to help others.”
With Juliette’s certainty about her sister’s wishes, the family agreed to donate Louise’s corneas, the clear outer layer of the eye.
“That decision has helped us make some sense of what happened,” she said. “We never asked for details about who received the donation, it was enough to know she helped someone.”
According to NHSBT, while the number of cornea transplants has risen to a ten-year high, donor numbers have dropped by 3% in the last year, contributing to growing waiting lists. The NHS needs around 70 donors a week, 140 corneas, to meet demand.
One major hurdle is that nearly 3.3 million people on the NHS Organ Donor Register have chosen not to donate their corneas after death, even though most people are eligible regardless of age or vision issues like cataracts.
Kyle Bennett, Assistant Director for Tissue and Eye Services at NHSBT, said: “Giving the gift of sight is incredibly powerful and lifechanging. Please consider agreeing to donate your corneas. Talk to your family and join the NHS Organ Donor Register.”
Juliette hopes that by sharing Louise’s story, more people will have the conversation now, before it’s too late.
“It’s not about us,” she said. “It’s about what our loved ones would want. I feel lucky that Louise was my sister, and proud that she’s still having an impact, even nearly 30 years on.”
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