Registering to bid this weekend? You could save a life by registering here too

In less time than it takes to drink a coffee, you could register your intent to save a life.

It's DonateLife Week from 28 July to 4 August and we're adding a touch of pink to our our Zango coffee vans for the next two weekend's to help raise awareness of organ and tissue donation.

It's ironic to think that as you're looking for a new home, your heart could have a new home one day too. It's a hard topic to talk about but one that really does hit home.

The reality is, of the 2,200 Canberrans who die in the ACT this year, only 44 will die in conditions that allow for organ donation.

And of those 44, only half of those will go on to donate, often because the families of the dying don’t know their loved one’s donation wishes.

“So imagine you are in intensive care and your family's grieving, and it’s a terribly traumatic time,” says DonateLife ACT State Medical Director Sean Chen.

“And they are being asked a lot of questions, which is the last thing that they want to have to deal with and they just want the suffering to end.

“And then we hit them with a question about organ donation and it's hard. But what’s easy for them is that you've made your wishes clear.

“I actually see people almost relieved that they know the answer to the donation question. And you've provided that answer for them.”

Dr Chen, an intensive care specialist, acknowledges that people find it difficult to talk about death.

“A lot of people, especially city folk, who have a high level of education, rarely see death and so don’t identify with it,” he says.

“We're so far removed from death that sometimes people feel they can bargain their way out of it. The truth is that everyone who has ever lived has, and will, die. No-one lives forever.

“And so this disconnect between understanding that death happens – and accepting that it happens – holds us back from realising that someone can be at the end of their life, even if they were perfectly well the day before.”

Dr Chen’s work involves having some of the toughest conversations imaginable, including conversations about death. But among the darkness can come hope for some families: in the form of a conversation about organ and tissue donation.

Anyone in Australia aged 16 and over can register to donate. One organ donor can save the lives of up to seven people, and change the lives of many more through eye and tissue donation. Donor families can ask to be updated on the health condition of recipients – with all recipients remaining anonymous – but the law does not provide for donor families and recipients to meet.

“What you’re giving someone is the greatest gift there is,” Dr Chen says.

“Imagine being a young person who's been quite unwell and suffering, and then having a second lease on life.

“Suddenly, they have their whole lives in front of them again. It’s remarkable.”

Becoming an organ and tissue donor takes less than a minute at www.donatelife.gov.au