SHOCKING new figures show that 118 people living in the North-East have died in the last four years while waiting for donor organs.

According to NHS Blood and Transplant one in ten people on waiting lists die before they get to the operating table.

The picture is even bleaker for those waiting for lung transplants – with one in four dying.

NHS Blood and Transplant’s new campaign, entitled ‘The Wait’, aims to highlight the true scale of donor organ shortages and encourage people to donate their organs when they die.

In the North-East 254 people are waiting for a transplant, of which 78 have been waiting longer than two years and 28 longer than five years.

A total of 118 people died between April 2011 and November this year because of a shortage of organs.

In North Yorkshire 103 people are on the waiting list for a transplant, of which 26 have been waiting for longer than two years and ten longer than five years.

Thirty two people living in North Yorkshire died between April 2011 and November this year because of a shortage of organs.

Nationally, there are almost 7,000 on the UK’s transplant waiting list. Thirty per cent have been waiting for more than two years and more than 500 of them waiting for longer than five years.

The new campaign features 41-year-old father-of-two Simon Howell, who was born with a serious kidney condition, renal dysplasia, and has been waiting for a new kidney for more than six years.

He was filmed over the course of a typical day for him in which he has four sessions of dialysis in order to keep him alive.

He said: “My family and I are on a roller coaster, but I can’t see the twists and turns or how it will end.

“A transplant would completely transform my health and all our lives.”

Sally Johnson, NHS Blood and Transplant director of organ donation and transplantation said: “I’d ask you to imagine how you’d feel if someone close to you was waiting for a transplant?

“Their whole life would be hold hoping someone will donate to save them. I’m sure we’d all hope an organ would be available to help someone we love - so shouldn’t we all pledge to be organ donors so more lives can be saved?”

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register go to organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300-123-23-23. Social media users are also being encouraged to use the hashtag #TimeToSign as part of the campaign.