Your organs are vital

Last year nearly 400 people died waiting for a transplant, says Candida Moss. ‘Presumed consent’ could have saved their lives

I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in August 1996, when I was 17. Twenty minutes before the diagnosis I was on top of the world: I had just passed my A-levels and was looking forward to a long summer holiday before going up to Oxford. Then my kidney specialist informed me that without treatment I would have renal failure within three months.

In July 2002 the specialist said that I had between two and four years before I would need dialysis or a transplant. Even though I’d always known this was a possibility, I had never really thought about what needing a new kidney meant. I had learnt to deal with the pain and inconvenience of frequent hospital visits for infusions of antibodies or iron, but now I was confronted with the truth: I had only a few years either to find a kidney or go on dialysis.