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In line with Organ Donation Week (21 September to 27 September 2026), L&G has partnered with NHS Blood and Transplant to inspire family conversations and encourage registrations for organ donation. This year's campaign comes at a critical time, with more than 8,700 people currently waiting for a transplant and donor numbers declining across the UK.

This year marks 32 years since the NHS Organ Donation Register was established. And as we look ahead, it’s just as important as ever that people feel confident talking about their organ donation decisions.

Family consent for organ donation has fallen from 69% in 2020/21 to 57% in 2025/26, a decline of almost a fifth in five years. NHS Blood and Transplant estimates that more than 700 potential donations have been lost because families were uncertain of their loved one's wishes, contributing to 2,127 missed transplant opportunities.

Some families still overrule the wishes of relatives who had chosen to become donors. This highlights the importance of open conversations, ensuring people feel confident to share and discuss their organ donation decisions with their family.

Whatever your own decision about organ donation, it’s vital that you talk to your loved ones so they can fully understand the decision and be certain about what you want.

So, what do you need to know about organ donation? How do you start a conversation about it and debunk some common myths? And what should you do once you've made up your mind? Let’s take a look.

Legal & General partnered with Clinical Psychologist Dr Angharad Rudkin, to explore useful tips for having difficult conversations like this with your children:

• Age – how long a child can focus on a conversation changes with age. The basic rule of thumb is one minute per year of their life. This may seem very short but knowing this helps a parent focus the conversation and optimises their child’s chance of taking it all in. Age also affects how a child understands concepts of time and the finality of some things. With younger children especially, ask them what their understanding is before you begin so that you can tailor the way you give information.
• Technology – Children often look online to find out more or to verify information they’ve been told. While encouraging your child to come to you to chat, you can also direct them to trusted online sources.
• Language – the younger the child the simpler the language. Don’t assume your child knows what things mean. Instead ask them if they understand what an “organ” is, and what the word “donation” means.
• Use examples – children can struggle to understand abstract notions until they are quite a bit older, so use examples from your child’s life (either a personal experience or something from a book, TV, or a game) to illustrate what you are talking about.
• Honesty – Respond to questions openly and honestly and don’t be worried if you can’t answer a question. Let your child know you will find out and come back to them or let them know that you haven’t quite figured out the answer to that yet either. They will appreciate your honesty and will respond similarly.
• Timing – Choose a moment when children aren’t too tired and hungry and when you’re not taking them away from something they enjoy – whether it’s reading, gaming or playing outside. This means they are more amenable to listening.
• Sensitivity – Keep checking in with how they’re feeling. If a child is feeling very anxious, arrange with them a time when you will return to the topic, so that they know there is another opportunity to talk.
• Busy Families – Families are busier than ever, and it can be hard to find the time to talk about big, important topics such as organ donation. But it is a conversation worth having, not least because children learn as much from watching as they do from listening. Hearing you talk about it calmly and openly will teach them how to respond to this topic, opening up the gates to plenty more conversations about it in the future.
• New knowledge - Children of all ages are fascinated by novelty and surprise. Talking about organ donation may spark questions. Encourage all questions to help a child build up a better understanding of a complex topic.
• After the conversation – After the conversation move on to an activity together. This will ease the transition back to everyday life and reassure the child that life will now go on as usual.

One person who knows how vital it is for families to support their loved one's decision is 26-year-old Ashleigh Tucker from Coventry. She received a heart transplant earlier this year due to Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – a thickening of the heart muscle. The transplant wouldn’t have been possible without her donor's family supporting their decision to give life to another.

"I had pneumonia when I was 10 months old and the virus attacked my heart which resulted in a dilated cardiomyopathy," said Ashleigh.

"It wasn't until I was 15, that the consultant at Birmingham Children's Hospital said it was hypertrophic – which means my heart muscle was becoming thicker. I was listed when I was little for a transplant at Great Ormond Street, but I got better and was taken off the list as they didn’t think it would benefit me at that time.”

Once Ashleigh was an adult, she was transferred to a different team at the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, and they put her on new medication. She was stable for a while, but during COVID times everything felt harder. Ashleigh was constantly breathless, exhausted, and things started getting worse. She continues:

"In November 2021, I ended up in hospital with bronchitis. They did an echocardiogram and found I was in heart failure. Hearing those words changes everything. The last few years were up and down. Some days just getting out of bed left me gasping. I tried rehab and new meds. I was in and out of hospital with chest pain and suspected myocarditis. It felt like every time I tried to get back on my feet; something knocked me back down."

Ashleigh was then referred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where she was assessed and listed for transplant last summer and spent nine months waiting, not knowing when the call would come.

"I’d just come out of hospital after eight days and barely been home a week when the call came. It was a massive shock - QE had told me nothing was changing, so I wasn't expecting anything at all. So, I was in shock when I got the call, she said.

"A heart had come in for someone on the super‑urgent list, but they were too sick for surgery. Because it was fast‑track, they needed someone close by, and they thought I was a match. I went completely blank. I was working from home, my mum was too, and I just pointed at my phone and then at my chest. I couldn't speak. I was shaking. It didn't feel real.

"Around half 7 they took me down for my transplant. Even then, they couldn’t be certain until I was asleep that it would be viable and would go ahead as they needed to do extra checks. And because I'd had a defib fitted when I was 18, they told me the surgery would take longer."

Ashleigh's transplant went ahead and was successful. Now a few months down the line she is still in slow recovery. She still gets tired and her muscles are still weak, but she is soon to be starting cardiac rehab which will help with her recovery – none of which would have been possible without her donor family saying 'yes' to donation.

"I don't think there are enough words for what donation really means to us as a family. It's a crazy situation - the hardest thing a family will ever face - and somehow it still becomes a lifeline for someone else. Thank you just doesn't seem enough.

"You can't imagine losing someone you love. But maybe there's a tiny bit of comfort in knowing that, through their gift, they've helped people keep living."