Virgin tycoon Richard Branson tells how a chance meeting with Fiona Hills prompted his lifesaving organ crusade

Mail | Sir Richard Branson

Three months ago I was stopped in the street by a woman who begged for my help. My family joke is that I can’t say no when it comes to fighting a cause – but I confess my unexpected meeting that day with Fiona Hills shook me to the core.

She pleaded for me to do something to stop the unnecessary deaths of 1,000 patients a year who, like her, are desperately awaiting lifesaving transplant surgery.

She may look the picture of health yet Fiona, 42, is suffering from end-stage liver failure as a result of a genetic condition, auto-immune hepatitis. Without a transplant, she will die within a matter of years. In the meantime, she lives with daily agonising pain.

Of the 10,000 people in Britain who currently need a transplant, three a day will die because there aren’t enough donor organs available. While 90 per cent of the population, like me, support organ donation only 29 per cent are officially registered.

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