A former truck driver, the Murtoa man was diagnosed with pneumonia three years ago - which resulted in his lungs failing to pump oxygen to his body.

"I was in the hospital for nearly two months and the doctors said they couldn't do anything," he said.

Struggling for six months thereafter, Mr Murfett was referred to Hamilton and Melbourne to seek specialist care. He said his health deteriorated and he had to artificially supply oxygen using medical equipment.

With a deteriorating condition, Mr Murfett was in severe need of a lung transplant.

"To operate, they need you to be fit. I had to take several tests every month to even be on the waiting list," he said.

After several assessments and a year-long wait on the organ transplant list, Mr Murfett learned that a donor was available.

Following a 14-hour surgery at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne, he recovered steadily with a new set of lungs.

"I had to stay near the hospital for three months and visit the doctor every day. They assess you and change the medications if the body rejects the new organs," he said.

Mr Murfett is one of more than 1500 people who need a life-saving organ transplant in Australia each year.

While there are more than one million registered organ donors in Victoria - and almost 3000 of those people in the Wimmera - Donatelife want to increase that number.

Wimmera Health Care Group respiratory nurse educator Heather Macdonald said people could wait up to three years to receive an organ transplant.

"Lot of people die while waiting on the list," she said.

"For somebody undergoing a transplant, to actually get on the transplant list has been emotional and unbelievable toll on them.

"Physically, it's a huge toll, too - going backwards and forwards every three weeks, multiple tests every week, having someone poking and prying you every three weeks for 12 to 18 months before they say: 'Yes, you are okay to be on our transplant list'."

Ms Macdonald said people were often hesitate to talk about organ donation.

"Often organs are supplied by younger people - who die tragically and then you have to think about donation," she said.

"Having been very involved with several transplant patients over the years - and seeing the positive effects on how hard it is to get their organ donation, and what impact it has on the family - it's really worthwhile."

DonateLife Week ran from July 28 to August 4.

Hundreds of Wimmera residents signed up to become potential life savers last year.

Horsham topped the local list with 133 new organ donation registrations in 2018.

DonateLife nurse donation specialist Larna Woodyatt said the numbers reflected the support of the community.

"It's great that we have such large numbers of people registering in smaller towns like Horsham and others in the Wimmera," she said.

Mrs Woodyatt said people wanting more information about organ donation - or to register to be an organ donor - to visit donatelife.gov.au/

"People can also check their registrations status.

"If you previously recorded a donation decision on your driver's licence, you still need to join the Australian Organ Donor Register. It takes less than a minute to register, or to check your registration with your Medicare card," she said.

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