Five-Year-Old Girl Becomes the Face of Organ Donor Awareness Campaign, Australia

by Elina Needham 

A five-year-old girl from Belrose, Tianna Zilifian, has become the face of organ donor awareness on the northern beaches.

Tianna was suffering from a rare diseaseillness known as biliary artresia. Throughout the time of her illness, her mother, Aleen has raised awareness of the importance of organ donations and the need for donors toregister. After staying months on the waiting list, Tianna received a successful liver transplant.

Tianna is supporting the DonateLife’s Know Their Wishes, OK? Campaign and is urging the people to discuss organ donation with family members and help more people in receiving transplants.

Figures reveal that Australia has one of the lowest donation rates in the developed countries and there is an urgent need to increase organ donations in the country. In Australia, nearly 1,700 people are on organ transplant waiting lists at any one time and those who are on the transplant list have to wait from six months to four years.

Encouraging the people of the society, Mrs. Zilifian said that single organ donor can save up to 10 lives. In 2010, the first full year of implementation of the Australian Government’s national reformprogram to increase organ and tissue donation rates, 309 organ donors saved the lives of 931 Australians.