A MEMORIAL tree to remember organ donor patients and their families is to be planted at a hospital.

A Red Acer will be planted tomorrow - National Donor Day - in the new courtyard outside the intensive care unit at The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough.

It will celebrate the gift of life and inspire work to continue by signifying new growth and new life.

Doctors will attend the tribute, organised by the Trust's donor liaison sister, Tracey Ryder, from intensive care. She has arranged a series of events to publicise the importance of organ donation and the life-saving benefits of transplants during National Transplant Awareness Week, which runs until July 14.

She wants to encourage people to think about joining the donor register and to discuss that decision with their families.

"Families rarely refuse if they know that was the wish of their loved-one but often struggle with the decision if donation was never discussed," she said.

"If families are able to consider it, donation may be the one positive thing to come out of an otherwise tragic situation and does give the precious gift of life to others.

"Wednesday is an extremely important day as it will recognise that donor patients and their families are never forgotten, not only be the recipients of the transplants but also by the people who cared for them."

Last year, 2,333 transplants transformed the lives of critically ill people across the UK. But more than 5,700 people are still on the waiting list, including 80 in the South Tees area.