A KIDNEY transplant patient has finally received his third organ donation after seven years of waiting.

Faizan Awan from Blackburn had his third kidney transplant on July 28 at Manchester Royal Infirmary and hopes this will encourage organ donation in the BAME community.

NHS Blood and Transplant’s annual report into organ donation and transplantation in Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, reveals that last year, 1,187 of transplants that took place last year were on black, Asian and minority ethnic patients.

This number is far higher than ever before, but the waiting lists for BAME patients has increased since 2015 due to coronavirus.

Mr Awan,who is 34, was born with renal failure and had a transplant as a child and another when he was a teenager.

He said: “The call came on July 27 when they told me they had a transplant for me and I was still half asleep.

“Nobody could come with me or visit me and because I waited seven years for a kidney transplant, so I decided to take the risk because otherwise I might have had to wait even longer.”

In Lancashire, there are currently 143 people waiting for a transplant – 31 of these are Asian.

The ambassador for NHS BT, said: “This year there has finally been an increase in organ donations in the BAME community but in February there were still 1900 people still waiting, so we still have a long way to go.

“People are starting to register their wishes, so their family can know what they want to do.”

Mr Awan understands some people with may cite religious beliefs as reasons they cannot donate an organ.

He said: “My father gave me his kidney in May 2000 and this is when I realised how I was different and one kidney might not be enough.

“He wanted to do it but was still researching it for a balanced point of view and went to the mosque, who said he could do it because it is saving someone’s life while not harming your own in the long term.

“But some said no, so we had to make our own decision and took everything on board.

There is hope that the introduction of Max and Keira’s Law, the new law relating to organ and tissue donation in England, which came into effect on 20th May, will lead to an increase in the number of donors of all ethnicities.

Find out more and register your decision by visiting NHS Organ Donor Register at www.organdonation.nhs.uk