SCOTLAND is already leading the way when it comes to life-saving organ donors.

But, as will be highlighted throughout National Transplant Week, there is still an urgent need for many more of us to sign up.

Despite 41 per cent of Scots being registered, compared to 33 per cent for the rest of the UK, three people still die every day awaiting an organ transplant.

And there are currently 540 people in Scotland on the waiting list.

It is estimated that if 80 per cent of families said Yes to organ donation, as many as 90 lives a year would be saved.

One life which was saved more than 15 years ago is that of Aaron Gray from Peebles.

He received a liver and small bowel transplant when he was just three-years-old and has also had two heart operations.

Aaron was born with an acute heart condition that needed immediate surgery. The operation saved his life, but while he was recovering Aaron caught an infection that destroyed most of his small intestine.

At five weeks old it was likely he would die. Aaron pulled through, but suffered acute liver damage.

Aged only seven months, he needed a new liver and a small bowel. Aaron finally left hospital for the first time when he was 13 months old, but his heart was too weak to undergo transplant surgery, and his future looked bleak.

Mum Catriona told us: “It was a worrying time. We feared the worst.

“Then, at last, we had some good news. Aaron’s liver started to repair itself. His jaundice went, and he was the healthiest he had ever been. He’d defied all the odds stacked against him.” In the summer of 1999, when he was almost three, Aaron was declared fit enough for open heart surgery.

However, he again fell victim to a severe post-operative infection. His jaundice returned, his liver was suffering and by January 2000 he was in urgent need of a transplant. Then came the agonising wait for a donor.

The call came at the end of May. A liver and small bowel had been donated by the parents of a 10-year-old boy and were successfully transplanted into Aaron.

Now an 19-year-old student at Borders College, Aaron lives a fairly normal life. But he and his family are well aware that he wouldn’t be here today without donated organs.

Catriona, who is still heavily involved in raising awareness of organ donations, added: “We know lots of children who had to wait too long for a transplant and didn’t make it. We know we are amongst the fortunate ones.

“Three people die each day waiting on a life-saving transplant - one donor could potentially save nine lives.

“One adult liver can save the lives of two children. The UK campaign theme this year is '7 days to say I do’ and I hope many more people will take this opportunity to say I do.” Deciding whether or not to become a donor after you have died is a personal matter and it’s important that everyone makes their own decision and shares that decision with others.

Jacques Kerr, consultant in emergency medicine at NHS Borders, hopes many of us will sign up to the register throughout next week.

He said: “Transplants are a miraculous achievement of modern medicine but they depend entirely on people expressing their wishes by registering on the Organ Donor Register. By doing this you could help to make sure life goes on for many others after you are gone.

“Unfortunately sometimes we find people who wish to donate have not informed or discussed this decision with their families. Telling your family is just as important as registering and can save them unnecessary distress during an already difficult time.” To find out more about organ donation and to join the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk.