In early January 2020, my 27-year-old son Alex, who was handsome and full of life, suddenly had a massive brain haemorrhage while visiting home from the USA for the holidays. At the hospital, after brain scans in the Accident & Emergency Department, it became clear that he would not recover.
I knew instinctively that Alex would want to be an organ donor, even though we had never talked about it. We told the ICU staff this, and it was later confirmed that he was registered as an organ donor.
Alex went on to save and improve the lives of many people. His heart went to a 19-year-old girl in a coma, his lungs to a 14-year-old girl, and his liver to a woman in her 50s, with a smaller portion going to a little boy. One kidney went to a young man who had been on dialysis for two years, and the other to a young woman in her early 20s who had been on dialysis for six weeks.
I was deeply touched to receive cards and a thank you letter from the 14-year-old girl and her mother who received a lung transplant. It meant a lot. I wrote to all of Alex’s organ recipients to let them know I was thinking of them and wanted to hear how they were doing.
Since then, I have become friends with the family of the girl who received his heart and the young man who received a kidney. The young man is preparing for a Tough Mudder event! I am also friends with the mother of the girl who received his lung; she has passed her driving test and is now in her first year at university. Sadly, the girl who received his heart only had three more years, but she was able to go on a holiday with her family.
These families have been incredibly brave, and they help me raise awareness about organ donation. Alex was always a giver, helping others throughout his life, and even after he died, he gave the greatest gift of all—life.