Organ Donation Week: East Sussex nurse opens up about her work

Joana de Letra is an organ donation specialist nurse for East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. She became interested in organ donation when she was working on the intensive care unit (ICU). Joana said: “Supporting donor families and potential organ donors through the process as an ICU nurse really opened my eyes to the value of supportive and individualised end-of-life care, especially when there is a possibility to help the lives of others in that process.”

In the UK there are currently around 7,000 people on the organ donation waiting list, 200 of which are children. In 2021, seven families in East Sussex agreed to organ donation - from this 15 people received a life-saving transplant.

Joana said: “While the life-changing gift of a transplant is the end-goal, my focus is on the donors and in ensuring their decisions are honoured. It never ceases to surprise me how selfless and generous people can be while going through some of the hardest days of their life.”

From April 2021 – April 2022, 19 people died in the South East because they were waiting for a transplant. At the moment, 47 per cent of the South East’s population are on the organ donation register.

To mark Organ Donation Week (September 26 - October 2), a new bench has been made overlooking the lagoon at Hastings’ Conquest Hospital in memory of people who became donors. Joana said: “I love my job because I get to help families fulfil their loved one’s decisions and create a lasting legacy at the end of their life.”

Personal accounts of people who have been saved by organ donors.

Hear from families who chose to donate their loved one's organs or tissue.

Sign up to be an organ donor

Learn more about organ donation

More news from East Sussex