The Make Your Mark campaign put six mannequins in Bluewater storefront to raise awareness and share information around donating kidneys.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00In the UK, six lives are lost per week while on the waiting list for a kidney donation.
00:05The mannequins represent each life lost, and amongst the display, a living kidney donor
00:10to tell his story.
00:12This is about changing that statistic from six people die every week for want of a kidney
00:18to zero people die every week for want of a kidney.
00:21At the moment, donating a kidney is seen as a form of extreme altruism.
00:26I want to be part of a movement that changes where it stands on the continuum from extreme
00:33altruism to something that is a perfectly normal thing to do that's not worth commenting
00:38on.
00:40Mannequins have filled a storefront in a campaign called Make Your Mark.
00:43This is to spread awareness about living kidney donations.
00:47In the UK, more than 6,000 people are on the waiting list for a kidney.
00:51With the mission to shorten the list and improve the lives of many, Kidney Research UK and
00:55Give A Kidney joined forces.
00:57The two charities become a part of the Robert Dangoor Partnership, which led the campaign.
01:02Flyers were being handed out to shoppers and QR codes provided access to information by
01:06your phone.
01:07The public also had a chance to speak with charities and living donors to find out more
01:11on the importance of donating.
01:13The message is, do you have it within yourself to donate a kidney to save a life?
01:20We don't expect everybody could do that, but we only need enough people to do that.
01:26There's six people a week on average dying because of a lack of kidneys.
01:31And we need to raise awareness amongst the public that we need more kidneys.
01:37The importance of donating kidneys is in order to reduce that waiting list for kidneys.
01:44People waiting too long, they become too ill eventually to have a transplant.
01:50By increasing the number of kidneys available, we can bring down that wait list.
01:54We can save lives.
01:57But for shoppers passing by, what did they make of this display?
02:01Yeah, I hadn't seen it until you pointed it out, but yeah, it's quite an effective way
02:07of promoting your statistic about six people every week.
02:12I think it's excellent.
02:13I really do.
02:14I think it's the first time I've seen something like this to promote, to let people know that
02:19this can be done.
02:20I think it caught my eye walking past it.
02:22I think it's really meaningful and I like that there were live people showing themselves
02:29as part of mannequins and just to show that it is real and they're just showing themselves
02:35and how they really feel about it.
02:37I think it's really good representation.
02:40Not only did this campaign provide information to the public, but it also gave some a chance
02:44to share their own stories.
02:46My dad was on dialysis for four years.
02:49It came to the end, they said that he had to have a transplant straight away or he was
02:55going to pass away.
02:58So we rushed in at Christmas Day 2021 and had it done.
03:04And six weeks later, we are all back to normal health.
03:08With the growing rate of kidney disease across the world, more lives are being lost.
03:12However, the campaigners hope that one day everyone lives free from kidney disease.
03:17And with these installations, that everyone learns a bit more about giving a kidney.
03:22Daisy Page for KMTV.