Almost £40k raised to fund musician Don Jackson's liver operation

Don Jackson spent seven months on a health service waiting list for a transplant before being told that cancerous lesions on his liver had grown too big for the procedure to go ahead, claimed his friend Dave Sollitt.

He said Don had been repeatedly assured during his wait that a transplant was imminent and a brave family member had stepped forward to offer to donate part of his liver for the operation.

“In a cruel twist of fate, just as Don's family donor passed all the stringent UK compatibility tests for the operation to go ahead, he has been given the devastating news that they will not now proceed,” he said.

Dave said the ‘clock was ticking’ for Don and so, ‘with a heavy heart,’ he had set up a campaign to raise £80,000 for the surgery to be carried out in Turkey.

He said the campaign had raised almost £40,000 in just three weeks and Don had already travelled out to Turkey, where the operation might be carried out later this week.

“He has been advised that he has only months left to live without this life saving operation,” he said.

“Turkey has a brilliant reputation, the best in the world for expert advanced technology, and performs way more state of the art Living Donor Liver Transplants than any country in the world. 

“Their success rate is amongst the highest in the world.

“We anticipate that the overall cost of this life saving operation, to include flights for Don and his donor, insurance, accommodation, some after care etc, will be around £80,000.

"This may seem a daunting amount, but we believe it can be raised if we all pull together.”

He said Don had been a stalwart of the York music scene for many years, as a performer, guitarist and songwriter in many bands, from CO2, Nearer The Far, the Crowmen, Ripe and his current band Luna Velvet.

Flashback: Don Jackson, pictured onstage with the Crowmen in the late 1980s - Don has travelled to Turkey in the hope of a life-saving liver transplant after the NHS said it could no longer perform the operation (Image: Dave Sollitt)

He was also a "loving family man with five amazing young children, whom he would love to see grow up".

He said the next step was a fundraiser at the Crescent, featuring Chris Helme, formerly of the Seahorses, and The Mothers, and Soul Survivors, on Thursday, March 9. 

“There will also be DJs and an auction of music memorabilia (including a real live Gold Disc).”

He said tickets costing £10 in advance were on sale on the Crescent website.

Asked to comment on the NHS decision not to operate, Dr John Adams, Medical Director (Governance & Risk) at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The safety of our patients is our top priority.

"Our specialist clinical teams individually assess the suitability of each patient waiting for a liver transplant.

"The eligibility criteria for liver transplantation in the UK is based on nationally agreed guidelines, administered through the Liver Advisory Group, and aligned with international practice.”