Join in the fun and do some community service at the same time by registering as a runner or walker in the Gift of Life Team which is participating in the Sydney City2Surf fun run.  It is held on 8 August 2010 in Sydney and runs from the centre of the City to Bondi Beach.  This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the run.

Lyndell Kazar has kindly registered Gift of Life's team .  We will proudly supply you with a sought after Gift of Life singlet or shirt as well as other merchandise which supports raising organ and tissue donor awareness.  Go to the City2Surf website, scroll down to the bottom of the page and enter.  Find the "join an existing team" button and search for Gift of Life Inc.  Our password is GOLI.

It's only 14km - a doddle for those in this region who are used to running much longer distances.  Heartbreak Hill may challenge some, but there will be some group training in Canberra to get our team into top shape.

Please contact Lyndell for more information.

The Prime Minister today launched a new campaign to encourage Australians to have the conversation about organ and tissue donation.  The campaign commences on Sunday, 23 May and its focus is:

The Federal budget was delivered on Tuesday, 11 May, 2010, by the Treasurer, the Hon. Wayne Swan, MP.  Here are the budget papers for the Australian Organ & Tissue Donation & Transplantation Authority.  An analysis of these papers will be provided shortly.

Budget Papers.

Well done to the Kidney Health people who were stars in a segment on ABC's Stateline on Friday, 23 April.  This was a marvellous piece of community education and very compelling in outlining the impact of kidney disease.  The stars were:

• Bill & Jenny Handke
• David Parker
• Anne Maguire of The Canberra Hospital

Anne pulled no punches in explaining the impact of kidney disease.

You can watch the show here.

Congratulations to Catherine Garrett and the ABC for pursuing this story.

Australia has demonstrated an unprecedented improvement in organ donation numbers in the first quarter of 2010.  Data for the first two months of the year are available at our blog here.

Data for the entire quarter has been tabulated and is available in a report here.  It compares monthly donors for January, February and March for the last ten years for the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Australia.

Further information about organ and tissue donations is available at the Australian & New Zealand Organ Donation Registry.

We pay tribute to the donor families who have discussed organ donation and made the decision for their loved ones to become organ donors.  We also thank the clinical staff involved who provide outstanding care and support for these families.

We have been advised of the resignation of Ms Karen Murphy as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Organ & Tissue Donation Authority.  Ms Murphy has resigned for personal reasons and is returning to Queensland.  We thank her for her support and work in starting up the Authority.

The Parliamentary Secreteary for Health, The Hon. Mark Butler MP, has appointed an interim CEO, pending a recruitment process.  Ms Elizabeth Cain has been appointed to the position.  She has held a number of senior positions in the health portfolio, most recently as State Manager of the Department of Health & Ageing's Queensland Branch.  We welcome Liz to the position and look forward to working with her to ensure that the Government's reform agenda continues apace.

Mr Butler's press release is available here.

January and February 2010 have been unprecedented in the number of organ and tissue donors in Australia. 

The ACT had three multi organ donors in January and one multi organ donor in February, while for the same period NSW had seven and six multi organ donors respectively.  In 2009, the ACT had one multi organ donor each for January and February and NSW had four multi organ donors and two multi organ donors.

Australia had 29 multi organ donors in January and 21 in February.  In 2009, there were 14 multi organ donors in January and 15 in February.

Further details are available from the Australia & New Zealand Organ Donor Registry.

Gift of Life records its appreciation to the 50 multi organ donor families and the many tissue donor families who have saved or improved the lives of countless Australians.  It is also grateful to the clinical staff of DonateLife across Australia, especially DonateLife ACT led by Dr Imogen Mitchell and DonateLife NSW led by Dr Jonathan Gillis.

The CA Brumbies and Medicare Australia are partners in raising organ and tissue donor awareness.  Medicare administers the Australian Organ Donor Register.

Star players Patrick Phibbs and Mark Chisholm generously gave of their time to lead by example and sign onto the register.  Both players are clear that this is a personal matter that involves discovering the facts about organ donation, deciding what is to be done and then discussing it with family.  At the same time, the call to action is to sign on to the register.

Gift of Life President, Anne Cahill Lambert, had the opportunity to speak at a very wet first home game at Canberra Stadium on Friday, 5 March 2010, encouraging the crowd to discuss their wishes about organ donation with their loved ones and sign onto the register.  Despite the difficult conditions, the Brumbies came away winners, defeating the Lions 24-13.  She recorded her appreciation to players who participated in the Terry Connolly ORGANised walk as well as Patrick and Mark.

Click here to sign onto the register.  For more information about discovering the facts about organ donation, deciding what to do and discussing wishes with loved ones, go to the DonateLife website.

The Terry Connolly ORGANised walk held on 24 February 2010 was a fabulous success with approximately 2,000 walkers participating on a glorious morning walk around the Lake.

The Connolly family was well represented with Dr Helen Watchirs (Terry's wife) and Lara and Maddy.  The federal political contingent was led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Parliamentary Secretary Mark Butler.  The ACT's deputy chief minister, Katy Gallagher, undertook the formal duties together with the Connolly family and some of the ACT Brumbies.

Greg Bayliss from ABC666 local radio was the compere for the event and interviewed captains from a number of the larger schools.

Senator Gary Humphries was the first person back to base possibly because he knew that the Lions Club had a magnificent breakfast on offer. 

Staff from Medicare were again on hand to issue showbags to all participants.

The big teams included:

• St Clare's College
• Melba/Copeland College
• Marist College
• Canberra Girl's Grammar
• McKillop College
• National Health & Medical Research Council
• Australian Electoral Commission

Well done to Canberra and the region.  It was a wonderful way to demonstrate commitment to Discovering the facts about organ donation, Deciding what you want to do and Discussing it with your family.

>> Click here to see photos from the day.

The National Health & Medical Research Council is currently consulting on the new donation after cardiac death guidelines that have been developed by a group of experts.  If you are interested in commenting, click here.   Note that submissions close on 24 August 2009.