Lyndsay’s mum – still helping others

Lyndsay, 22, shares how her mum had expressed a wish to save others – so when she suddenly passed away at the young age of 55, her family knew what she wanted. Lyndsay hopes that by sharing this with you it might encourage you to make a resolution to share your wishes about organ donation, just as her mum did.

Three years ago my mum passed away due to a brain haemorrhage. I was out with her when this happened, but unfortunately nothing could be done to save her.

My mum had already expressed a wish to donate her organs. Her generosity saved many other families whose loved ones were suffering with organ failure from having to go through what we did when we lost the most amazing person (and my best friend) that I have ever known. She had always been vocal with her family about not needing her organs once she had passed away and had encouraged us to do the same.

Hearing the stories from the families who received my mum’s organs made my family and I so proud. My mum is still helping people out; knowing that also brings a lot of comfort and hope to an awfully sad situation.

Shortly after my mum passed away my friend, Delise, who had received a kidney from her mum, started to go into rejection and she had to start having dialysis again. Delise is really lucky as she has her own machine at home which makes life on dialysis a little easier than it could be, but still nowhere near the quality of life she deserves. I went for a series of tests to donate my kidney to my friend and was really upset when I couldn’t donate directly. However, I am still waiting to hear from doctors whether they can find someone to do a pair donation to help save my friend’s life.

We seriously need more people to act in the same selfless way as my mum by making it known to their loved ones that they do want to donate their organs. Although I’ve been through a loss that led to organ donation, I really don’t want to have to go through another loss due to a lack of organs. This could so simply be changed if more people were vocal like my mum, thereby saving multiple people’s lives.

My mum was an admirably kind, loving and generous person. It was simply her nature to help anyone she could. She continued to help others when she sadly passed away. Her precious memory and legacy lives on in those who loved her.