ABOUT 20,000 Oxfordshire people have vowed to give the Gift of Life by becoming an organ donor since an Oxford Mail campaign launched two years ago.

We kickstarted the appeal to encourage more people across the county to join the NHS Organ Donor Register.

At the time 177,531 Oxfordshire people were registered to become an organ donor after they died.

But that number has leapt to 197,992.

Now health chiefs want even more to join the successful campaign and help save lives.

Prof Peter Friend, director of the Oxford Transplant Centre, said: “Campaigns such as the Oxford Mail’s Organ Donor Appeal are so important because they raise awareness and remind people how important it is to become a donor.”

The National Blood and Transplant Service said – since 2006 – 10 people had died in Oxfordshire while waiting for organs.

There are 72 people currently waiting for either a kidney, pancreas, lung, heart or liver transplant across the county.

Prof Friend explained there were about 500 people in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire waiting for transplants at the Churchill Hospital.

He said: “The fact is the number of people who would accept a donated organ is much higher than the number of people who are themselves signed up.

“You never know who is going to be a donor. You are several times more likely to be a recipient.

“For many people it’s not that they do not want to be a donor, it’s just that they have not got round to it yet for lots of perfectly normal reasons.

“If someone has put their name on the register and carries a donor card it makes life so much easier for the hospital and families when they pass away as they do not have to second guess whether they would have wanted to donate.”

NHS Blood and Transplant spokesman Zeeshan Asghar said: “If more people were willing to make their organs available for transplantation after their death, many more lives could be saved.”

You can sign up using the form under the Gift of Life section on this website, found by going to the Community tab under News. For further details call the donor line on 0300 1232323, see organdonation.nhs.uk