More than 8,000 lives in the South West have been saved through organ donation in the last 30 years.

But more than 600 patients in the region still waiting for a transplant.

This Organ Donation Week (September 23-29), NHS Blood and Transplant is celebrating the fact that the NHS Organ Donor Register has been helping to save lives for 30 years through the gift of organ donation - with more than 2.8 million people in the South West declaring their willingness to donate their organs after death.

Since the creation of the NHS Organ Donor Register in 1994, more than 100,000 people in the UK have had their lives saved by an organ transplant, including more than 8,000 people in the South West.

Although organ donation has been saving lives in the UK since the 1950s, the NHS Organ Donor Register was created 30 years ago to promote the wider message of organ donation and allow people to record their decision to be a donor.

Elodie Gray, aged 10, was only a few months old when she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. Elodie, who lives in Kingswood, Bristol, with her dad Colin, mum Sarah and siblings Freya and Austin, was less than a year old when she received her life-saving heart transplant. She celebrated her tenth heart anniversary earlier this year.

Her dad Colin, aged 51, said: "We'd been backwards and forwards to the doctors as she just couldn't seem to get over her cold. After the doctor listened to her heart Sarah was told to take her straight to the hospital."

A scan at the hospital revealed that Elodie had dilated cardiomyopathy. Colin and Sarah were told Elodie would need to be put into an induced coma while they waited to see if medication would work. It quickly became clear that a heart transplant would be her only option.

Elodie was transferred to the Freeman Hospital - travelling to Newcastle by plane with her mum while Colin made the journey north by car.

He said: "We'd been told it was possible Elodie wouldn't survive the flight, she was so small, they were worried she wouldn't cope with the vibrations from the plane."

Elodie's journey to transplant was no less challenging, surgery to help her heart recover was unsuccessful and she was placed on a Berlin Heart (a machine which takes over the job of the heart and pumps blood around the body). There are risks associated and Elodie suffered a stroke and multiple cardiac arrests.

Colin says: "We were told by Elodie's doctors that she would need to come off the Berlin Heart which meant we'd have to say goodbye to our little girl. Amazingly that night we received the call to say a heart had become available and we needed to get back to the hospital while they prepared Elodie for surgery.

"We are immensely proud of our miracle. Elodie has seen off many challenges, even before receiving her new heart. We could never have foreseen her reaching this milestone as there were many critical times where we could see no future. But you always had to have hope.

"Elodie has been able to live her life - she loves to play football, loves to sing and has even taken part in the transplant games! She knows what has happened to her and how serious it was, and she just wants to help people.

"Without donors and brave families donating organs there would be far more heartache and more unnecessary deaths. It is small group of people in the worst position a family could ever find themselves in, who make something positive happen. I wouldn't have my daughter if it wasn't for that family who made the brave decision to donate their child's organs at the most devastating of times.

"Elodie is here to tell her story, it's powerful, hard hitting but with a great end result, unfortunately there are many more that lose the battle they face. Let's help others, let's talk, let's make a real change. People don't always realise how important it is to confirm their decisions around organ donation - please join the register. Elodie is a living, breathing example of just how important organ donation is."

In the South West, 261 patients received a life-saving transplant from a deceased donor last year and 155 residents donated their organs after death. Many of those had recorded their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register. However, the waiting list for a transplant in the UK is higher than ever before, with 593 patients in the region still actively waiting for a lifesaving organ.

Only around 1% of people who die in the UK every year are usually able to donate their organs after death. Donors are typically those who have died in a hospital intensive care unit or emergency department due to brain injuries, cardiac arrest or other trauma.

It is vital that everyone who wants to be a donor registers their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register and talks it through with their families who will be expected to support their decision should the time come.

Families are far more likely to support donation when they already know it was what their relative wanted. Almost 90% of people honoured their family members' decision last year when they had either proactively registered their decision to donate on the NHS Organ Donor Register or verbally expressed a decision to be a donor.

Anthony Clarkson, director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation, at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "Every day across the UK there are thousands of patients and their families, waiting for that all important life-saving call. Yet, this is often only possible as a result of another family receiving some of the hardest news they might ever have to hear.

"The change in the law now means that it's assumed that when someone dies in circumstances where they could be a donor, that they agree to donate if they haven't officially opted out. However, no-one is automatically added to the Organ Donor Register. You still need to confirm your own decision and your family will still be consulted before donation goes ahead and will be expected to support your decision.

"With 593 patients in the South West waiting for organ transplants, it's more important than ever to register your organ donation decision and make it known to your family."

This year, the UK will once again 'Go Pink' for Organ Donation Week. Councils, businesses, charities and famous landmarks up and down the country are turning their lights pink for the week to show their support for the thousands waiting for a transplant.

For more information, or to register your organ donation decision, please visit: www.organdonation.nhs.uk  or call 0300 123 23 23. NHS app users in England can also use the service to record, check or update their organ donation decision.