‘Moments matter’: Life-saving warning from police over organ transport
Police have asked for help from the drivers of NSW as they complete a lifesaving service that often remains hidden, as one of the lucky ones reminds us why this is so important.
NSW
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The sound of police sirens usually means cops are on their way to a crime scene.
But they’re often performing another lifesaving, yet less publicised task: transferring donated organs to a patient in urgent need. NSW Police have completed more than 3700 emergency medical transfers in the past 40 years, with 86 of those occurring so far in 2025.
That’s why NSW residents have been issued a life-or-death plea as part of a national awareness week.
Traffic and Highway Patrol commander Assistant Commissioner David Driver asked drivers to “please move out of the way” for vehicles with sirens as DonateLife Week began on Sunday.
“If police are involved in (organ transports), time is of the essence,” he said. “Moments matter.”
Organ recipient Tilly Harley, 11, said before receiving a donated liver, she was “always tired and run down”.
Tilly was born with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease she said made her “very yellow, very sick (and) very scratchy”.
“I kept on getting more and more sick over time. It really wasn’t good,” she said.
“After my transplant, it felt like a whole new transformation. I felt 100 times better.”
Tilly’s mother Kim said she waited 12 months for the call that her daughter would receive a new liver, and while the family “were one of the lucky ones, 12 months probably felt like about 12 years”.
Kim said it was difficult seeing her daughter “getting sicker and sicker and just having to wait for that phone call”.
“At the time of her transplant, we had no idea that it was transported through highway patrol,” she said.
“Our hero in our life is the person that donated the organ for Tilly.”
DonateLife co-state medical director Michael O’Leary thanked police for more than four decades of “getting organs and retrieval teams to hospitals or airports urgently”.
Dr O’Leary warned that despite the state having recorded an increase in organ donors over recent years, there were still more than 1700 patients on the waiting list.
“Last year, 50 people died waiting for an organ transplant,” he said.
“Every donor has an opportunity to save up to seven people through solid organ transplant.”
Dr O’Leary called for the state’s residents to register as an organ donor through Service NSW, Medicare or on the DonateLife website and to share their wishes with their families.
“Surely if you’re willing to take a transplant yourself, you should be able to give as well,” he said.
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Originally published as ‘Moments matter’: Life-saving warning from police over organ transport
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