I should like to hope that all Freemasons are registered organ donors. Charity is one of the three great principles upon which Freemasonry is founded but charity is not solely giving our time or money to help others; what charitable donation to our fellows could be greater than the gift, literally, of life?
     Anyone who has heard the harrowing stories of those whose kidneys have failed and whose lives are thereafter dominated by hours of dialysis every few days cannot fail to be moved. Many patients wait for years, their lives virtually on hold, until a donor kidney becomes available.
     A failed liver will mean a painful death unless a donor liver can become available. Even so, on the latest figures - 2006 - eight percent of those waiting for a transplant die before a donor organ arrives; around ten percent die in the operation or during the following months, others are too ill to be offered a new liver. In 2006 a total of 636 patients - fifty-five percent of those on the transplant list - received a new liver, and a new life.
     The science of organ transplantation has greatly advanced since the first successful kidney transplant in 1954, the first liver in 1963 and the first heart in 1967. Today patients can receive transplants of kidneys, heart, liver, lung, pancreas and small bowel.
     Research continues; nevertheless hundreds still die waiting for a transplant or even before they get onto the transplant list.
     By agreeing to donate organs after your death you are giving a vital gift to someone else and transforming their life. As the wife of a donor said, “It helped my grieving a lot to know that some part of him had gone to help someone else.”
     Unfortunately, there are not enough donated organs to go to all those who need them. Many people simply have not thought to register as a donor. In other cases a donor’s wish is, upon their death, overruled by relatives. As difficult as the present situation is, without a greater number of donors it is only going to grow worse.
     The statistics for liver problems, for example, are frightening: in the United Kingdom an estimated 726,000 people have Hepatitis B or C and this is agreed to be an underestimate. Many will develop terminal liver disease. To date some 350,000 people in the United Kingdom have a serious liver problem from Hepatitis, excessive alcohol intake, or other medical condition. Yet, in 2006, the total number of liver transplants in the United Kingdom was 636. That there will be serious problems in the future cannot be denied especially so as a result of the binge drinking culture amongst many young people.
     I freely admit that I have a vested interest in this: on 10 April this year I received a liver transplant at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge. Around nine years ago I tested positive for Hepatitis C and over the succeeding years the Hepatitis gradually chewed up my liver until, under an ultrasound scan, it looked like a piece of badly mixed concrete and hardcore. Then, early in 2007, I collapsed and was hospitalized. I went down hill quite rapidly thereafter. Finally, having been waiting on the list for over eight months, I received a new liver and from the moment I woke up in Intensive Care I could feel it giving me health and strength.
     Following the transplant my dominant feeling was one of utter gratitude: to my donor, to the doctors, surgeons and nurses, and to that great Divinity which underlies all life - called by whatever name our culture has bequeathed us. This feeling was always emotional and overwhelming. I have spoken to other recipients of organs, and they have experienced the same.
     During the latter period of my illness there were obvious difficulties with my editing Freemasonry Today even if my hospital bed was covered by papers, books and a laptop. At one stage my consultant came by and, noting the office I had created around my bed, requested that I should let him know when I had finished and so had time for a transplant! Naturally I owe much to my colleagues at Freemasonry Today.
     I should like to hope that all Freemasons are registered organ donors. But if any of you have not registered then I should like to encourage you to do so by telephoning the NHS Organ Donor Register on 0845 60 60 400 or via the website www.uktransplant.org.uk

When the merger between Freemasonry Today and MQ was decided there were a large number of subscribers to Freemasonry Today who still had issues due to them. We gave all subscribers the choice of receiving a refund or donating the balance to charity.
     The masonic charities selected to receive these funds were, The Grand Charity, The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution, The New Masonic Samaritan Fund and The Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys.
     The non-masonic charities selected were, The Royal College of Surgeons, The Rydale Trust, The C-Change Trust, and the restoration fund of an historic Suffolk church.
     We should like to thank those thousands of subscribers who showed such generosity of spirit.

Michael Baigent, MA