READER REPORT:
Going full circle on organ donation
GERARD O'NEIL
123rf
Donating my sister-in-law's organs saved seven people. Now my nephew needs help.
It is now six years since my sister-in-law was fatally injured in a car accident and our family donated her organs for transplant.
Some might say our decision to donate her organs was a noble one; however we just saw it as the natural thing to do. My sister-in-law was 44 years old when she was hit by a car while crossing the street. She suffered serious head injuries on impact and never regained consciousness.
Although the hospital did everything to save her life, it soon became apparent that she was not going to pull through. As she began to slip away the doctors made their first approach about the possibility of her being an organ donor. To their surprise my parents-in-law agreed immediately.
Part of the reason was because, though we had never discussed the possibility with my sister-in-law while she was alive, we knew this would have been her wish, simply because that was the type of person she was, and secondly, my mother-in-law’s brother had received a transplanted kidney some years previously. The gift had radically changed his life.
We will always be grateful to the medical team who keep us fully informed about their transplant preparations. Once the decision had been made to donate a huge logistics operation got underway. It involved medical teams in various hospitals and the organization of helicopters and airplanes etc.
Unbeknown to the doctors, my wife who is also a health professional had a contact in the hospital who was passing on information that perhaps we were not entitled too. She told us that in fact two medical teams were working on my sister-in-law. One was doing everything humanly possible to save her life and the other, preparing her for the transplants. The former had top priority until she was finally declared brain dead.
Seven people had their lives changed as a result of the transplants. The principal reason all the transplants were a success was because the decision to donate was taken early on in the piece. During the four days my sister-in-law slowly slipped away, the medical teams had the time they needed to prepare.
It is strange, but the feeling we have when we visit her grave is different from that of visits to the graves of other people we knew. As parts of her body are still functioning in others, her death does not seem so final somehow.
It feels as if she is on an extended holiday and will return someday soon.
Some say that life is a two-sided coin. This expression is turning out to be true for our family in relation to organ donation. Last week came news that my 28-year-old nephew’s only hope of survival, after a short serious illness, is an urgent heart and lung transplant.
This news came as a shock out of the blue as my nephew, his girlfriend; my niece and my brother were preparing to travel to South America next month to meet my wife and me. Although I met my brother about five years ago on a visit home to New Zealand, the last time I saw my nephew and niece was in 1986 when they were small children. This is because they live in Perth, Australia, which is exactly in the wrong direction for us when travelling between New Zealand and Brazil.
As it is only in recent years that social media has made communication a easier, I know very little about the lives of my niece and nephew. A large part of the fault is mine as I did not create my own Facebook page until a couple of weeks ago.
With the news that my nephew requires a transplant the internet exploded into activity. Hundreds of people have been sending messages of support to him. It is through these messages that I am learning how important my nephew is to so many people. An example of this can be found here.
This proves once again that Kiwis living in Australia, or in my nephew's case, an Australian born to Kiwi parents, contribute to the betterment of their society.
Perhaps Kiwis living in Australia or even Australians reading this will be motivated to donate their organs in the case of death. Who knows perhaps they may be responsible for saving the life of someone one day, or in turn, someday someone might be responsible for saving theirs.
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