A Welsh family lost Menna Owen at 18 after a seizure-triggered cardiac arrest; her heart and lungs were donated to two recipients, both doing well a year later

People in Wales asked to be ‘One in a Million’ as family support for organ donation 

A Welsh family lost 18-year-old Menna Owen after a seizure caused her heart to stop. Her decision to become an organ donor meant that her heart and lungs were given to two young patients, who were both doing very well a year after their surgeries.Menna’s story comes as health authorities begin a major campaign to address a sharp fall in family support for organ donation across the United Kingdom.Figures from the Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Activity Report by NHS Blood and Transplant show that UK family consent rates fell from 69 percent in 2020/21 to 57 percent in 2025/26. The nearly 20 percent decline comes as the UK transplant waiting list has reached a record 8,296 patients, including 241 children.In response, NHS Blood and Transplant launched the “One in a Million” campaign. It is asking another one million adults to record their donation decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR). The aim is to increase registrations from 29 million to 30 million by the beginning of 2027.

Family conversations remove uncertainty

When Menna suffered a cardiac arrest after an epileptic seizure at her home in Tonteg, Pontypridd, her mother, Beth Owen, already knew what her daughter wanted.Menna was taken by air ambulance to the hospital where Beth works as a Senior Nurse in Neuroscience. After doctors confirmed that Menna had suffered a severe brain injury, Beth spoke to medical staff about organ donation.Beth remembered a conversation the family had previously had at home about organ donation. She said Menna had immediately said she wanted to donate everything she could.Menna was described by her mother as kind, quiet, and happy. She loved her dog Ollie, enjoyed reading crime and psychology books, and liked trying new activities. She took part in indoor skydiving and went on the North Wales zip wire. She also wanted to try hang gliding.Menna did not allow epilepsy to stop her from doing the things she enjoyed. She had been looking forward to starting university to study criminal psychology.Because Menna had clearly expressed her wishes, her family did not have to make the difficult decision themselves.Beth said the family had always told Menna and her brother Dan that doing their best was enough. After Menna’s death, the family’s final act was to respect the decision she had already made about donation.Beth said she was unsure whether the family could have made the same decision without knowing Menna’s wishes. Knowing what she wanted made the process much easier.She also said organ donation had brought some comfort to the family during their grief. Knowing that Menna had helped other people and that her wishes had been respected made them feel that she would be proud.A year later, Beth had heard that both recipients were doing extremely well. She described this as part of Menna’s lasting legacy.

The gap between donors and patients is growing

Official figures show that family support for donation is around 90 percent when a person’s decision is recorded on the ODR. However, consent falls below 50 percent when families do not know what their loved one wanted.In Wales, 1.4 million people have registered their donation decision. The number of deceased organ donors increased from 115 to 126 over the past year, but the number of transplants received by Welsh residents fell slightly from 235 to 224.There are currently 348 patients in Wales on the active transplant waiting list.Across the UK, figures for 2025/26 show similar pressure:

Despite these increases, 434 people across the UK died while waiting for a transplant last year, including 16 people in Wales. Another 899 people were removed from waiting lists because their health became too poor for transplantation.

Overriding donor decisions can cost lives

NHS Blood and Transplant officials warned that families can sometimes go against a recorded donation decision when they are faced with end-of-life decisions without enough preparation.Anthony Clarkson, Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said family support for donation has been falling steadily in recent years and needs to improve.He said the “One in a Million” campaign is asking people in Wales to register their donation decisions and help increase the number of people on the NHS Organ Donor Register to 30 million by the beginning of 2027.Having a recorded decision gives families certainty about what their loved one wanted and makes it more likely that the decision will be respected.Clarkson also warned that some families still reject organ donation even when their loved one had clearly wanted to donate. This results in hundreds of possible transplant opportunities being lost every year.He urged people who have not yet recorded their wishes to join the Organ Donor Register and encouraged families to remember and respect those decisions.

National report calls for major changes

The long-term pressure on transplant waiting lists has also led to calls for wider changes across the healthcare system.The Organ Donation Joint Working Group (ODJWG) published a report calling for a “bolder, braver approach to organ donation.” The report followed figures showing that nearly 5,000 people in the UK had died while waiting for a transplant over the previous decade.The ODJWG identified three main goals:

Menna’s story shows why knowing a person’s wishes can matter so much. Her family did not have to make an impossible decision during a time of grief because Menna had already made it herself. Her heart and lungs went on to help two young people, giving her family a lasting source of comfort and a powerful legacy.