It is a tense and traumatic time for anyone who requires a life-saving organ transplant. There are currently 111 people in the Bradford district waiting for organs to become available – the majority of them requiring kidney transplants.

It is perhaps something we don’t think about unless we or our families are directly touched by the situation. But there is a severe shortage of people on the NHS Organ Donor Register and an urgent call has gone out for more people to sign up.

Of particular concern is the shortage of potential donors from the black and ethnic minority groups. The best chance of a successful transplant is involving an organ from someone of the same ethnic background. Donor teams have teamed up with religious leaders to get out the message that signing up is not against most religious teachings.

But whatever our ethnicity, religion or background, everyone can help by signing up for the donor register. It is perhaps something that some of us do not like to think too closely about, but after death we could indeed be bestowing the gift of life upon not just one but many people – a single donor can save nine lives, say the experts.

It is certainly something worth thinking about. For every sick person awaiting a transplant, there are a host of family, friends and colleagues living a life of worry and upset. We all – quite literally – have it within ourselves to save lives after we have gone, and now is perhaps the time to stop delaying any further and sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register.