RIVER City actress Leah MacRae has told how she got over a “fear” of signing up to be an organ donor after watching her friend wait three and a half years for a life-saving lung transplant.

Gary Tank Commander star Leah said she considered whether she would accept a transplant if she needed one and the decision to join became a “no brainer.”

The issue was thrown into sharp focus when her friend Lisa Hertwig, who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, was put on the transplant waiting list.

She said: “If you ask yourself that question and the answer is yes, and you haven’t registered your decision, then you need to think about why that is.”

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It comes as new research by the Scottish Government revealed that despite 77% of people saying they would be willing to be an organ donor, almost a quarter had not joined the NHS Organ Donor Register, while 38 per cent had not made their wishes known to family.

Next year, Scotland will switch to an opt-out transplant system, whereby consent will be assumed if a person has not registered an objection in their lifetime but families will still be consulted.

It follows a six-year campaign by the Glasgow Times, which was backed by the British Heart Foundation, doctors leaders and transplant patients.

The public is being encouraged to make their donation decision known, now and in the lead up to the law change, by recording it on the NHS Organ Donor Register as well as talking to family about what they would wish to happen in the event of their death.

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Leah said: “Before I met Lisa, I was never on the organ donor register. I didn’t know enough about it and the thought of it scared me.

“But seeing the life that you can give to someone who like Lisa, who would have died without that help, I asked myself that question.

“If I found out I needed a life-saving transplant tomorrow to continue with my life, to stay with all my loved ones and live my dreams, would I take it? Then it became a no brainer for me.”

There are currently just over 2.6 million people in Scotland on the NHS Organ Donor Register today, representing nearly 49 per cent per cent of the population.

People can find out more about the opt out system of organ and tissue donation, and their choices at organdonationscotland.org