WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.180


00:00:06.180 --> 00:00:10.540
-I became involved in the
world of organ donation,

00:00:10.540 --> 00:00:14.410
sadly, when my 21 year-old
son, Lee, was involved

00:00:14.410 --> 00:00:18.420
in a fatal car accident.

00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:20.690
It had been a very, very
long night at the hospital.

00:00:20.690 --> 00:00:23.275
They'd decided that they
were going to bring Lee out

00:00:23.275 --> 00:00:25.795
of the medically induced coma
he was in, and it was touch

00:00:25.795 --> 00:00:28.199
and go all night whether
he was going to wake up.

00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:29.990
It was about 10 o'clock
on a Sunday morning

00:00:29.990 --> 00:00:32.369
when we were approached
and told basically

00:00:32.369 --> 00:00:36.690
that, very sensitively,
that Lee hadn't come round,

00:00:36.690 --> 00:00:38.230
and he wasn't likely to.

00:00:38.230 --> 00:00:40.490
And would we consider
being introduced

00:00:40.490 --> 00:00:46.025
to the transplant coordinators,
which we agreed to.

00:00:46.025 --> 00:00:49.510
And I just remember thinking
that I didn't want Lee's life

00:00:49.510 --> 00:00:50.970
to be a waste.

00:00:50.970 --> 00:00:56.080
So we went ahead and we agreed
to donate all of Lee's organs

00:00:56.080 --> 00:00:58.320
apart from his heart.

00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:02.940
I just said no to Lee's
heart because it was

00:01:02.940 --> 00:01:04.410
an emotional thing, I suppose.

00:01:04.410 --> 00:01:05.980
It was something
very precious, and I

00:01:05.980 --> 00:01:09.330
didn't want to let go of that.

00:01:09.330 --> 00:01:10.710
It was just a snap decision.

00:01:10.710 --> 00:01:13.450
You don't ever expect to have
to make a decision like that.

00:01:13.450 --> 00:01:15.930
And I think in
those circumstances,

00:01:15.930 --> 00:01:19.550
we said no because
we were ignorant.

00:01:19.550 --> 00:01:22.230
If I'd have seen something
about organ donation,

00:01:22.230 --> 00:01:25.999
and it had reflected the
need for heart donors,

00:01:25.999 --> 00:01:28.290
I wouldn't have said no to
his heart, not for a second.

00:01:28.290 --> 00:01:32.460


00:01:32.460 --> 00:01:35.630
I do feel proud that
we've done what we did,

00:01:35.630 --> 00:01:40.765
and I think Lee would have been
in agreement with what we did.

00:01:40.765 --> 00:01:44.370


00:01:44.370 --> 00:01:47.300
I would urge anyone
that hasn't ever

00:01:47.300 --> 00:01:50.726
considered it, to sit with their
families and talk about it.

00:01:50.726 --> 00:01:52.850
Don't ever leave it until
you get put in a position

00:01:52.850 --> 00:01:54.274
we were put in.

00:01:54.274 --> 00:02:02.340


00:02:02.340 --> 00:02:06.170
Dr. Michael Birch said
he wanted to talk to us.

00:02:06.170 --> 00:02:08.780
I thought, oh no, what's
he going to tell us now?

00:02:08.780 --> 00:02:10.460
So he asked us to
sit down and then

00:02:10.460 --> 00:02:14.730
they told us that they
had the offer of a heart.

00:02:14.730 --> 00:02:16.114
Your initial
reaction is, oh wow!

00:02:16.114 --> 00:02:17.030
You're really excited.

00:02:17.030 --> 00:02:18.960
And then you feel guilty.

00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:21.857
Because somebody else is
having to lose their child.

00:02:21.857 --> 00:02:23.690
And I guess you try not
to think about that.

00:02:23.690 --> 00:02:26.640
You just put it out
of your mind a bit.

00:02:26.640 --> 00:02:28.837
She had what they call
dilated cardiomyopathy, which

00:02:28.837 --> 00:02:30.378
is a disease of the
heart, basically,

00:02:30.378 --> 00:02:33.760
when your heart
muscle gets enlarged

00:02:33.760 --> 00:02:37.520
and then it's not
pumping as it should be.

00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:40.060
She had a large
heart for a teenager.

00:02:40.060 --> 00:02:42.475
Her heart was pumping
out for a bigger body.

00:02:42.475 --> 00:02:44.590
But that should change
as she gets older.

00:02:44.590 --> 00:02:47.560
So as she grows, her
heart will stop growing,

00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:49.559
wait for her to
catch up with it,

00:02:49.559 --> 00:02:50.850
and then they'll grow together.

00:02:50.850 --> 00:02:56.218


00:02:56.218 --> 00:02:58.165
I wasn't on the donor list.

00:02:58.165 --> 00:03:00.290
It seemed so distant,
something that you would need

00:03:00.290 --> 00:03:04.110
or quite a distant thing
from your own life.

00:03:04.110 --> 00:03:06.342
But obviously, when Lucy
had a heart transplant,

00:03:06.342 --> 00:03:08.122
we couldn't take an
organ without being

00:03:08.122 --> 00:03:09.330
willing to sign up ourselves.

00:03:09.330 --> 00:03:12.160


00:03:12.160 --> 00:03:14.730
You realise the importance of
it, because Lucy at one point,

00:03:14.730 --> 00:03:17.390
was minutes from death I guess.

00:03:17.390 --> 00:03:21.210
And in a bed surrounded by
loads of wires and machines,

00:03:21.210 --> 00:03:23.270
and now she's starting
school next week,

00:03:23.270 --> 00:03:25.360
and goes to ballet
lessons, and no one

00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:29.990
would know any different if
you don't actually tell them.

00:03:29.990 --> 00:03:51.488