Allan King, a National Trust communications officer, has experienced both sides of organ donation. Last year his partner Michelle Oskoui, who worked at Dove Cottage for six years, tragically died while driving to work.

Unbeknown to Mr King, Michelle had signed the organ donor register and was able to help five other people after her death.

Thirteen years earlier Mr King received a cornea transplant, which saved his sight and allowed him to continue his passion for photography.

Mr King has now moved to Somerset but returned to Grasmere earlier this month with close friends and family to scatter Michelle’s ashes.

Here he shares his experiences with readers.

Michelle and I met in Grasmere when she was working as an assistant curator at Dove Cottage and I was working for the National Trust.

She died just before Christmas on December 18 2009 after a car accident.

She had recently started working down in Stafford and she was just 200 yards from getting to work when the accident happened.

It was the darkest time for me and her family and words can’t describe the pain of losing her. Whilst we were at the hospital we were told that she had been on the organ donor register.

The nurses that were caring for us were so kind and lovely, they spent hours with us, helping us through our grief. It was only three hours later that I realised that one was the donor transplant co-ordinator.

She told us what Michelle’s wishes had been and we knew that it was the right thing to do. I hadn’t even known she was a donor, it wasn’t something we had ever talked about, and I was so proud of her for what she had done.

Signing the register was such a selfless thing to do and so like her to have just done that kind thing for others and never even mention it.

A few months later we got news from a family of a five-year-old girl who had received Michelle’s kidney.

They told us that for the first time in years she had been able to go outside and play with her friends again.

It was an absolutely astonishing thing to hear and still affects me today. That Michelle could help that girl was incredible.

I just want to say to people that you can sign the donor register for yourself, but that you should also do it for your family. It doesn’t remove the grief but it gave me a great deal of comfort to know that Michelle was a donor and that she helped people.

Your family will take comfort in it.

But my experience has two parts. I have seen both sides of organ donation, and so can understand how life changing receiving a transplant is.

In 1997, when I was 33, my eyesight had deteriorated to the point where I was going blind. I had a condition called keratoconus which meant the cornea thins and becomes scratched.

There was nothing left for me but a cornea transplant.

It was a slow recovery and I was on drugs to ease the pain for a long time, but I remember coming back from the hospital over Shap and being able to see the world in full colour for the first time. I could pick out all the details and just how amazingit looked.

For four years I hadn’t been able to drive, and living in the Lake District had meant that I had missed so many beautiful places.

I had to rely on public transport all the time, and it was just so difficult.

As soon as my eyes got better I took up my old hobby of photography, and every time I go out with my camera I cherish the fact that somebody gave me this opportunity.

I never lost sight of the fact that somebody else’s gift had helped me get my life back.

Sadly I know nothing about my donor, and that is a great regret considering the turn of events that have hit my life now.

I would like to try to get in touch with their family to say thank-you, but 13 years ago there were no transplant co-ordinators.

However, I hope that I can still get the chance to say thank-you.

Organ donation is a miracle, and I would like as many people as possible to sign the register - it truly is one of the most important things you can do.”

If you want to sign up to donate your organs, go to www.organdonation.nhs.uk or telephone 0300 1232323