NHS Blood and Transplant is running a new campaign to draw attention to the scores of people in Cambridgeshire who are in desperate need of donor organs. According to the NHS, there are 62 people in Cambridgeshire who are on the waiting list for a transplant.

The Christmas List campaign is encouraging everyone to join the NHS Organ Donor Register to help save lives here in Cambs and nationwide, where thousands of people are waiting for organs.

NHS figures also show 28 people in Cambridgeshire have died while on the transplant waiting list during the past five years.

But 57 patients in the county have been given another chance after receiving a transplant already this year.

Sally Johnson, director of organ donation and transplantation, said: “Every year thousands of patients on the waiting list in Cambridgeshire and around the country have a Christmas clouded with anxiety and uncertainty.

“Some severely ill people might spend the whole of Christmas in hospital, just hoping they get a life-saving transplant. While for others, their condition may mean they can’t enjoy Christmas traditions like the rest of us.

“Quite simply, there is a shortage of donated organs but if more families agreed to donate a loved one’s organs, more people would get the transplants they need.”

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk, call 0300 123 23 23 or text SAVE to 62323.