When her close friend had to be urgently airlifted to another country for a heart transplant, a renowned Maltese actress was inspired to start a campaign to encourage people to register as organ donors.

Lara Azzopardi, known mostly for her roles in local television series and films, brought together the wife of the prime minister, the opposition leader and the health minister, among others, to remind people that their organs can live in other people after their death.

Lara Azzopardi is a nurse by profession, but she is mostly known for her acting roles in TV series like Iċ-Ċaqqufa. Photo: Kitz Klikz

Azzopardi, who is a nurse by profession, spent seven years working at the renal unit at Mater Dei Hospital and she admits the countless hours she spent working for people who suffered from kidney diseases opened her up to the good cause of organ donation.

But it was her friend’s serious heart condition and urgent transplant that inspired her to go a step further and launch the campaign.

When he was 17 he discovered he had cardiomyopathy – a condition that prevents the heart from pumping blood efficiently throughout the body – but managed to live with it normally for 35 years through periodical interventions. During a routine check-up last November, however, his doctor noticed that his heart had been behaving abnormally in the weeks prior to the appointment.

That is when he was told he needed to be admitted to hospital urgently, and by the first week of December he was airlifted to Sicily to wait for a heart transplant, which he received on December 8.

Doctors later told him that had he not gotten the transplant in time, he could have suffered a cardiac arrest that could have killed him at any moment, he told Times of Malta.

Lara Azzopardi (second row, first from left) with her renal unit colleagues in 2011.

‘One of the best gifts’

Opposition Leader Bernard Grech joined the campaign, saying he and his wife had registered to become organ donors when they were just 22, and said one of the best gifts in life is giving part of oneself.

Lydia Abela, the prime minister’s wife, said meeting people who need a heart transplant highlights the preciousness of life, and saving people’s lives is the ultimate gift of love.

Health Minister JoEtienne Abela said that despite being always tragic and unpleasant, death can also be transformed into new life. An organ donor’s death can save up to eight other people’s lives, he said, which is why people should seriously consider registering as donors.

PN MP Adrian Delia and Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci also joined the campaign, sending out their own messages of hope and urging people to register to become organ donors.

Anyone who has turned 16 can become an organ donor by signing up through eID on organdonation.gov.mt.

Alternatively, people can request a registration form to be sent to them by post, which they then fill in and send back, or by filling in the form at Mater Dei’s renal unit.