A RETIRED accountant from Ulverston and well-known street entertainer is urging people to consider becoming organ donors – particularly live kidney donors.

Tim Melville has kidney failure and is on the NHS transplant waiting list at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Mr Melville, who formerly ran TJ Melville and Co and is known for his Uncle Tim’s Flea Circus show, is asking people to discuss organ donation.

NHS Blood and Transplant has just released figures which show that across the UK in 2014/15 the number of people donating organs fell for the first time in 11 years.

In Cumbria last year, 19 lives were saved or improved by deceased donations and five people benefited from living donor transplant where donors gave a kidney or part of a liver.

Mr Melville is not yet having dialysis treatment, but this could happen at any time.

The 69-year-old says this is the prime time for him to have a transplant due to his age. Unfortunately for a variety of reasons, his family cannot be a donor for him.

His kidney problems came to light around 10 years ago after he had a heart bypass and they have become gradually worse.

The grandfather of seven said: “I look quite well, but my kidneys are failing and I’m in a situation where I’m on the NHS transplant list at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

“I’m not yet on dialysis but I’m heading in that direction. By going on dialysis your fitness level will drop and, combined with my age, it would be very much to my advantage to get a transplant now.

“I want to encourage people to consider become donors, particularly living kidney donors because of my and other people’s positions.

“Would people consider taking that extra step and donating a kidney while they are alive? You can live a perfectly good life with one kidney.

“It is the gift of life.”

The charity, Give a Kidney, aims to raise awareness of non-directed, or altruistic, living kidney donation in the UK. People donate a kidney to someone they don’t know; the NHS prioritises who receives the live kidneys.

Jan Shorrack, of Give a Kidney, said: “It’s really disappointing that organ donation figures have fallen.

“Any adult who is healthy can be a live kidney donor. Anyone who wants to donate goes through tests.

“At the end of June there had been 416 altruistic kidney donations in the UK. Kidneys from living donors seem to be more effective in general and last longer.”

Organ donor information is available at www.organdonation.nhs.uk and www.giveakidney.org