Organ donor families to join pink peaks challenge

Daniel Boyde's organs were used to help three other young people

Report by BBC Isle of Man

The families of donor "heroes" and transplant recipients will climb to the highest point of the Isle of Man to raise awareness about organ donation.

The Turn the Peaks Pink, external challenge on 27 September will see people carry photographs of their loved ones to the summit of Snaefell to mark Organ Donation Awareness Week.

A live link-up will also bring together recipients and relatives who will have reached the top of five other peaks in the British Isles on the same day, all wearing pink.

Campaigner Diane Taylor, whose son Daniel Boyde's organs were donated following his death in a car crash in 2007, said the memorial walk was set to be "very poignant".

About 7,000 people, including Manx patients, are currently on the UK organ donation waiting list.

Manx families affected by organ donation over the last decade will be invited to join the event by NHS Blood and Transplant, but anyone affected can register to take part, Ms Taylor said.

The event will also see groups scale Scafell Pike in England, Ben Nevis in Scotland, Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland, and Pen y Fan and Snowdon in Wales.

Ms Taylor said knowing her son's organs helped three other people was a comfort as part of her son "lives on".

It was also "very special" to think it was "possible that one of Daniel's recipients could be walking up one of the other peaks", she said.

The Human Tissue and Organ Donation Act - known as Daniel's Law - to create an opt-out system for donation has not yet been brought into force.

But Ms Taylor said a year-long consultation was expected to be launched following the recruitment of an implementation officer.

Encouraging people have conversations about their wishes, she asked people to "think about what your choices would be" because "it could save a life".