IT is a gesture with potentially life-saving consequences.

Those who said 'Yes I donate' during National Transplant Week last week have given hope to the 10,000 people throughout the UK - 358 in West Yorkshire - with life limiting conditions who are waiting for a transplant.

The aim of the recent 'Seven Days to Say Yes I Donate' campaign was about breaking the silence; encouraging people to talk about it with their friends, family and loved ones.

Currently, a third of UK adults admit they haven't considered organ donation or decided if they want to be an organ donor, according to NHS Blood and Transplant.

And 4.1 million people who do want to donate their organs when they die say they haven't talked to a loved one about that decision.

This can often lead to many families not wanting their loved ones organs to be used.

"One of the reasons why it is important to have the conversation is so your family are clear what your decision was after you die," says a NHS Blood and Transplant spokesman.

Last year the number of people donating organs fell for the first time in 11 years. The reason, apparently twofold: Fewer people died in circumstances where they could donate last year, and the lack of improvement in the consent/authorisation rate which remains stubbornly below 60 per cent.

However, from December this year a new ruling in Wales may lead to an increase in donors as it will mean people will have to opt out of becoming an organ donor. If they don't record an organ donation decision, in other words opt in or out, they will be treated as having no objection to becoming an organ donor.

Sharee McPhail believes this could be a positive move. "I think organ donation is still a very personal choice. It is a very big decision to make, but saying that if you are so against it you would take the time to opt out rather than taking the time to opt in."

Four years ago the 31-year-old's life changed forever - thanks to her organ donor. Before receiving her double lung transplant, Sharee, who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, was so breathless she couldn't even put her arms up to brush her hair. She was on oxygen 24 hours a day and was struggling to walk the short distance to the car parked outside her Bradford home.

Thanks to the generosity of her donor she literally has a new lease of life and Sharee cannot thank her donor enough.

"It has changed my life immensely. It has given me so many more opportunities. I have had four years of extra experiences and memories - I would never have had that without my donor. I went to America this year - I have been before but it was so much more enjoyable this time because I was less restricted," says Sharee.

Through her own experience, Sharee has joined the organ donor register and is hoping others will follow her lead.

Sharee says those who would be willing to accept a transplant should be willing to donate. "It is your legacy as well. You are leaving a part of you. I am on the organ donor register, because of my transplant I wouldn't be able to donate my major organs but I could donate my corneas and to think I could potentially give a mother or father their sight and the chance of seeing their child for the first time, it is an amazing gesture."

Yet despite signing up to become organ donors, the families of potential donors can have the last say whether they want their loved ones organs to be used or not. Sharee enforces the message for potential donors to have that conversation with their families so they are aware of their wishes.

"Having conversations as well with your family is so important. If they are aware it makes it easier for them as well," says Sharee.

But she appreciates it is a sensitive subject to discuss. "Unless it affects you personally you do not see the whole picture, the impact it has."

Sharee says people who know her have become organ donors as they have seen the difference it has made to her life. Now she hopes others will do the same.

"People don't want to talk about it because they don't want to think about their own mortality, but as a human race I think it is something everybody should think about."