Today we all have a chance to make a difference by supporting World Kidney Day.

Medical expertise in recent decades, much of it accomplished in Oxford, has meant that patients needing new kidneys (and other organs) have a chance of a longer and fuller life.

The problem is not the capacity to carry out such operations, but the shortage of donors.

Take the case we feature today.

Teenager Jasmine Parker travels 180 miles to and from her home in Banbury and spends 10 hours every week wired up to a dialysis machine.

She wants to be able to spend more time with her son, Leo.

But on present estimates, she could be waiting up to five years to get a new kidney.

Many people are understandably fearful of giving organs, such as a spare kidney, while they are alive.

But it seems that many are still reluctant to agree to hand them over when they are dead.

We hope many of our readers will support efforts to get more people to put their names on the NHS organ donor register.

You could be helping patients like Jasmine Parker enjoy life like the rest of us.