OVER the last five years, 15 patients have helped turn an end into a beginning at Basingstoke hospital by becoming an organ donor after their death.

According to figures provided by NHS Blood and Transplant, to mark Organ Donation Week from September 5 to 11, the patients donated their organs in death at Basingstoke hospital, in Aldermaston Road, between April 2011 and March 2016.

The week highlights how people could give someone the chance of a new beginning by telling their family they want to be an organ donor.

Every day across the UK, around three people who could have benefited from a transplant die because there are not enough organ donors.

This includes Basingstoke teacher Sam Yates, who lost her battle with cystic fibrosis on April 4, 2013, whilst waiting three years for a double lung transplant.

The 28-year-old, who spent her final months trying desperately to encourage more people to sign the NHS Organ Donor Register, made a final act of selflessness by donating her corneas when she died, giving a stranger the gift of sight.

Her husband, Luke, vowed to continue her legacy after she died and has been campaigning to encourage people to sign the register.

He previously told The Gazette: “The statistics are that three people die a day in need of an organ. That’s three families like me who have to think ‘if only we got that transplant’.”

He added: “Organ donation is one of the only ways we can actively contribute to society after we pass away.”

Rachel Clare, specialist nurse, organ donation at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Basingstoke hospital, said: “Lives have been saved or improved by the generosity of donors and their families at our hospitals over the past five years.”

Visit organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23. Share your decision using #YesIDonate.