Glenys Marriott, chairman of the Kendal Organ Donor Town Project, urges people to be organ donors

Currently there are more than 7,000 people on the UK national transplant waiting list and, during the last financial year, more than 1,300 people either died while on the waiting list or became too sick to receive a transplant. There are nine people just in Kendal on the waiting list right now.

Since May more than 40 volunteers have been supporting Cllr Chris Hogg, Mayor of Kendal, and Cllr Rachael Hogg, his wife, to get 1,000 Kendal residents to sign up to be organ donors. So far over 600 have done this, but we need more if we are to reach our target before May.

This month Chris will give Rachael one of his kidneys, a mark of enormous courage and a gift that will save her life. She had her first transplant 25 years ago and that is now failing.

So as Valentine’s Day approaches please think about registering as an organ donor, and then, most importantly, share your decision with your relatives so they don’t overturn your wishes in the future.

In England at present more than 40 per cent of people refuse permission for their relative’s organs to be donated, even when they are already registered.

We need to discuss this openly with our relatives and make our wishes very clear because death is not the best time for loved ones to have to face such decisions.

Knowing donation is what you wanted could make their decision a lot easier to live with when they are trying to deal with their loss.

People of any age can be registered, but we have discovered that one of the really sensitive areas is when we suggest to young parents that they consider adding their children to the register.

Inevitably, none of us likes to consider that anything can go wrong with our children, but when it does it is incredibly hard to consider donating organs to save another child. Yet most of us would hope that, if our own children needed to receive an organ, then one would be available. Sadly the waiting lists show that is not as yet the case.

Children can register themselves, but their parents, guardians or those with parental responsibility will still be asked to provide their consent should the child's death lead to donation being considered.

Most people have responded in a very positive way when they have seen us at the dozens of public events we have attended.

We are hugely grateful to all the local people, organisations and businesses which have supported us. In particular we are greatly indebted to the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, their volunteers at Westmorland General Hospital and the trust's organ donor committee, together with the Cumbria NHS Partnership Trust.

My request therefore for Valentine’s day is simple – if you have already registered to become a donor – ask all your relatives to sign up too. If you haven’t registered, please do.

We have leaflets around the town, including at the Town Hall, or you can register on line at our special Kendal link on our website http://kendalorgandonortown.org.uk/

Illness or long-term condition doesn't prevent you from registering as a donor and even if you can’t give blood, you can still be an organ or tissue donor. UK religions support organ donation and transplant. In each religion there are different views but they all accept that organ donation is a personal choice.

If each one of you responded to this request we would break the 1,000 target before Chris and Rachael come home from hospital – what a wonderful ‘welcome home’ gift for them, and for someone in the future needing a transplant.