Joe Russell has been folding origami since he was a child, but a lung transplant led to him creating this amazing model – a life size pair of lungs, folded from a single sheet of paper. The model took over 2 years to design, with help from one of the hospital consultants who helped Joe understand the anatomy of the human lungs.

Joe tells us:

“This model is inspired by and dedicated to my organ donor, and his family for consenting to their loved one’s donation.
I am alive to write this piece because of luck,because life was offered to me rather than someone else. This is the reality of organ donation: a lack of donors necessitating choices between who lives and who dies. If we wish to donate perhaps the most important step we can takeis to talk to our families about it, so that amidst the heartbreak of our passing, they know what to do. In this model, I hope, live the seeds of these conversations.”

It is an amazing story – you can read it in full in the latest BOS magazine, available soon online, and in print and get the crease pattern if you want to try to fold it for yourself.

BOS members get 6 magazines each year – if you are not a member yet, you can join from just £15.