A PONTSIAN man who is waiting for a life-saving transplant operation has backed National Organ Donation Week and urged people to sign up for organ donation.

Carwyn Jones, 30, is currently on the waiting list for a kidney and pancreas transplant after he became seriously ill last year, and with National Organ Donation Week starting on Monday, 4 September he said it was important for people across Wales to consider signing up officially and making their family aware of their choice.

Carwyn suffered organ failure in 2016 and requires dialysis three-days-a-week meaning he cannot work and leaves him exhausted.

Figures have shown that in 2016/17 there were 21 cases where families either overrode their relative’s decision to donate organs or didn’t support the deemed consent.

Carwyn said while he appreciated the difficulty many people may have in having a discussion about consenting to organ donation, it could be a matter of life and death for seriously ill people.

He said: “I was in my twenties: playing rugby, running my own business as a tyre fitter. I felt fit and healthy. Then everything changed so quickly.

“I went for a routine heart check and was told it was pumping at just 25 per cent capacity. I was rushed to hospital with kidney failure and things kept deteriorating from there.

“Now I’m on dialysis four hours a day, three times a week. It leaves me exhausted, irritable and unable to do anything, including work. Being on dialysis has taken over my life.

See the full story in this week’s south edition