It only takes one organ and tissue donor to transform the lives of 10 or more people, but when it comes to donation time, many ­families do not know what to do.

Sunday, August 2, marks the start of DonateLife Week, a national awareness ­campaign to promote organ and tissue donation in Australia.

Australians have been urged to register their donation decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register and to share that decision with their loved ones.

CEO of Organ and Tissue Authority Yael Cass said families that know each other’s decisions are more likely to uphold them, especially at times when many families have just lost a loved one.

“It is rare for a family to decline the ­opportunity for donation if they know their loved one was willing to become a donor,” Ms Cass said.

According to the Organ and Tissue Authority, the main reason families decline donation is because they don’t know what their loved one wanted.

And  most families of donors also said that donation provided them with comfort in their loss.

To help start the conversation during DonateLife Week Australians will be asked, “If you would say yes to receiving a lifesaving transplant, have you said yes to becoming an organ and tissue donor?”

Of the 42 people on the transplant list in the Hunter, most are awaiting kidneys, which is in line with the national figures.

For more information visit www.donatelife.gov.au

When Sally O’Sullivan’s son Charlie was ill and in need of a kidney she did what any mother would do, she gave up one of her own.

At three weeks old, the family from Morpeth found out that Charlie would need a transplant because he had an obstructed urethral valve.

Charlie was just 16-months-old when he had the transplant, which made him one of Australia’s youngest kidney recipients.

Now he is a happy and boisterous six-year-old thanks to the lifesaving transplant.

“He’s fantastic,” Ms O’Sullivan said. “He is at school, he plays sports, he does all of the things I always hoped he would.”

Sunday is the start of DonateLife Week to promote organ and tissue donation in Australia.

Ms O’Sullivan encouraged everyone to talk about organ donation with their friends and family, because all it takes is one person to save a little battler like Charlie.

“When we found out about Charlie we were in absolute shock,” she said.

“We didn’t really know anything about organ donation, we were in a complete spin.

“I had always assigned organ donation on my licence, but we hadn’t had any in-depth discussions about it. We certainly have now.”

The mother of two said it was important for people to make their own decision about organ donation and be comfortable with their choice.

“But organ donation means so much to people like us,” she said.

DonateLife week is from Sunday, August 2, to Sunday, August 9.