Tribute to organ donor: ‘No words are enough. You essentially gave dad his life back’
When it became clear in the hours after the horrific road traffic accident on December 29, 2012, that 26-year-old Amanda O’Flaherty, would not survive her devastating head injuries, doctors at Cork University Hospital approached Paula to ask if she had considered organ donation.
“I didn’t hesitate for a second,” Paula said.
“I’m an organ donor myself and I thought if someone can benefit from Amanda’s organs, then I had to do it.”
Amanda’s lungs were too badly injured to be suitable for transplant, but medics were able to harvest her heart, her liver and her kidneys.
Within minutes, the organs were on their way to transplant centres in Ireland and England, where critically-ill transplant patients were waiting in hope.
A seven-year-old girl got Amanda’s heart. A farmer with end-stage liver disease got her liver on New Year’s Eve. Amanda’s kidneys were transplanted in to an 18-year-old girl and a 26-year-old man.
Paula is in regular contact with officials in the transplant coordination centre in Dublin’s Beaumont hospital who have told her that all the recipients are still leading happy, healthy lives thanks to her generous gift.
But the family of one of the recipients has gone a step further, and his close relatives have written to Paula several times to express their profound gratitude.
Paula keeps their letters in a folder, sandwiched between Mass cards and treasured photographs of her daughter.
They have helped forge a unique and deeply personal bond that only the bereaved and donor recipients share.
Paula reads the letters occasionally — even though it’s very upsetting.
One reads: “We cannot thank you enough but we assure you our prayers and thanks have been with you every minute since Dec 30 2012.
“I hope this letter of sincere thanks will console you in some little way knowing your generous gift of life is so appreciated and is so successful.”
Tears stream down Paula’s face as she reads a letter from the son of a person who underwent a transplant operation just hours before Amanda’s life-support machine was switched off.
“I can’t even begin to imagine the torment that you and your family was going through when you made this decision. However, I would like you to know that my family and I will never be able to repay our gratitude,” the person wrote.
“My dad would personally like to add his thanks but no words are enough as your family essentially gave him his life back.”
The letter writer said his family has been saying prayers and remembering Paula’s family in Masses since they got the phone call they had been longing for that night in December 2012.
“All of us were overjoyed that dad made it through the operation, but we never lost sight of the fact that this was due to someone else having to make the decision to donate a loved one’s organs. This is something we will never lose sight of,” he wrote.
The successful transplant means the recipient can watch his grandchildren grow up, the letter writer concluded.
Paula said she longs to hear from the family of the little girl who received Amanda’s heart.
“It’s not about getting a ‘thank you’. I would just like to know that she’s doing OK,” Paula said.
-Email: donor@ika.ie
-Freetext DONOR to 50050
-Lo call 1890 543639
-By post to: Freepost, Donor House, Irish Kidney Association, Park West, Dublin 12
-You can pick up a donor card at your local pharmacy.
-You can sign the back of your driving licence to indicate your wishes.
-You should also discuss your wishes with your next-of-kin.
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