Jackson calls for organ donations

WELLINGTON: Film director Peter Jackson called on fellow New Zealanders to donate their kidneys, livers and hearts to those in need.

Jackson told New Zealand's Woman's Weekly magazine, which hit newsstands on Tuesday, that he was appalled to discover people were dying because New Zealanders are failing to donate healthy organs.

Organ donation is a lifesaving gift which costs nothing, said the director of the Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

"It's not until you're facing heart disease or liver failure that you realize how bleak the prospects are here for people who are critically ill," he said in the article.

His comments were inspired by the plight of 11-month-old Katie Tookey, who suffers from biliary atresia, a rare condition that blocks the liver's ducts, causing permanent deterioration.--AP