ORGAN donation is increasingly a hot topic in Wales as the country becomes the first in the UK to move towards the introduction of presumed consent legislation next year.

After December 2015 people in Wales will be presumed to have agreed for their organs to be donated after death.

The aim is to increase the number of organs available and reduce the number on transplant waiting lists.

But it has not been without its critics.

Some have argued that it will only make a slight difference to the number of organs available, others fear that it is a step too far to presume just because someone has not opted out of the system, that they wish their organs to be donated.

For supporters, the legislation is the result of many years of hard work and will reduce the number of people who die needlessly.

Whatever your view, the legislation would perhaps not have been necessary if there were more people like the two men we feature today who decided to donate their organs and who had explained to their families that this was their wish.

There was then no doubt in their family’s minds about what was to happen when their loved ones died.

As a result the deaths of Michael Doherty and Desmond Medlicott will help many others to live.

They have given the ultimate gift and their selflessness is to be admired.