Organ donation - A Lasting Legacy

Six years ago today my Mum received two phone calls which changed our world. The first was to ask where she wanted to send my Dad for rehabilitation following his days in hospital after a stroke. The second, just hours later was to tell us that in fact they had got it completely wrong and he was devastatingly in fact clinically brain dead.

The fact that they had got this so wrong should not have come as a surprise to us, it was the end of treatment which started from a carotid embolism being found by a radiographer who failed to notify the Doctor and instead sent my Dad home which had it been dealt with would have had a 98% survival rate and which ultimately ended with these two phone calls.

In between he passed through four different medical instiutions from ambulances where he and my Mum were treated to casual racism because they were English, diverted to the wrong hospital for which we have never had an explanation. Ultimately he was killed by bank holidays and weekends, medical negiglence, having the wrong sort of stroke ie the one that doesn't fit the four hour window guidance and the fact that he was so healthy and was able to live with the carotid blockage for so long before he finally hit the floor.

When my sister and I flew over to France to join my Mum in the intensive care ward, he was finally receiving the care he deserved and got the MRI scan he should have had right at the beginning of the process. We had some decisions to make.

It was clear that gross mistakes had been made with his care at every stage apart from his initial GP visit and intensive care. Four institutions had been negligent, we wanted to make formal complaints, but we were also very clear that we wanted to donate his organs. My Dad was healthy living, didn't smoke, hardly drank, ate healthily, excercised, ironically of all of his brothers and sisters he was the healthiest. He was also deeply committed to helping others and recycling things, we knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would want us to donate his organs.

So we had a problem. In France, if we wanted to raised a complaint at that point, they would have had to get a judge involved who would have effectivley had to seize his body and keep him on a ventilator whilst carrying out an investigation and then do a post mortem. It could mean giving up the ability to donate his organs which was not something we were prepared to do. We had to take some positive away from the situation.

At around 9.00pm when they wheeled him away for the last time, as we looked out of the window and saw the helicopters landing ready to take his organs, we knew we had done the right thing. Four of his organs were taken for use to save others lives that night.

If I'd been writing this article last year, I'd have been encouraging you to have conversations with your loved ones so you knew their wishes and to sign up to the organ donor register, but in May 2020 the law in the UK changed from opt in to opt out meaning that unless you specifically tell your next of kin otherwise, should you find yourself in this situation, your organs will be considered, though I am sure they will still take the families wishes into account. I for one am delighted that this is the case. I can say without hesitation that I have no regrets about the decision we made on that night and I am pleased that we could bring something positive out of a tragic situation.

Organ transplants save lives and can bring comfort to those grieving for lost family. Do you know what your loved ones wishes would be?