PVer in Australia killed in car crash - becomes organ donor

[rainbowgirl28]

Remember that the process of becoming an organ donor in the US is a bit different. It is really important to talk to your family if you would like your organs donated should something happen to you.



http://kadina.yp-connect.net/~ypct/news ... /gift.html

The gift... Bereaved parents urge organ donation



Heather Drysdale and Sharon McWaters: Both families want people to think about organ donation, talk about it with their families, and sign onto the national register.

Journalist: Kathryn Crisell Probst

Tim McWaters

Danielle Drysdale
What possible good can come out of the loss of two young lives - the innocent victims of a head-on car crash at Port Wakefield on the Adelaide Cup public holiday?

The answer is four saved lives and, for the McWaters and Drysdale families of Minlaton and Maitland respectively, a raised awareness of the need for organ donations.

The parents of Tim McWaters and Danielle Drysdale agreed to talk with YP Country Times about their dreadful losses on May 16, in the hope it would make people think and talk with their families about organ and tissue donation, and sign onto the Australian Organ Donor Register.

Tim and Danielle were, literally, life-long friends. Tim was born the day before Danielle, on October 18, 1987, and died in hospital a day after the crash that claimed Danielle's life at the scene.

They were aged just 17 years and seven months.

It was the circumstances of their deaths that dictated which family would be asked to donate the healthy organs of a much-loved child.

Tim McWaters, of Minlaton, and Danielle Drysdale, of Maitland, travelling together in Danielle's car from home to Adelaide on the Adelaide Cup public holiday, died as a result of a head-on collision at the southern entrance to Port Wakefield.

Because Danielle died on impact, and Tim initially survived the crash and ended up in intensive care at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, it was his parents, Kim and Sharon, who faced the organ donation question.

"Donation is not that simple, it's quite a process but we were way ahead of them (hospital staff) because we had talked about it", says Tim's mother, Sharon McWaters.

"When we saw Timothy in the hospital we knew he wasn't going to survive and we said to the doctors we wanted to donate his organs."

Tim signing onto the Australian Organ Donor Register not long after he started donating blood while at Prince Alfred College stimulated family discussion about the subject.

"He was quite proud of that. We were aware of transplantation and have been interested in it, and certainly talked about it with Tim", said Sharon.

The family kept a bedside vigil, along with his girlfriend, Sarah, and her mother.

Around 3.30 am the morning after the accident, things changed.

"We feel there was some response up until that time but then his vital signs all changed. I think that is when the pressure in the brain became too much and cut off circulation. When he became brain dead", says Tim's father, Kim.

It would be another six hours before Tim was declared brain dead by doctors and preparations for organ donation started.

"There is quite a process in donation and people need to be aware of that", says Kim.

"They had to test his organs and wind back the drugs to get them working properly again. We were originally told the heart and lungs were too far gone because of the drugs given to him, but they managed to get the heart working properly and, 15 days later, a middle-aged man walked out of hospital with a 17-year-old heart."

Tim's other organs saved another three lives.

His liver was flown interstate to save the life of a young wife and mother who went into renal and liver failure after giving birth to her first child. She was just days from death.

His left kidney and pancreas went to a married father of one in his early 30s who had been waiting over two years for a transplant. He is home and hoping to be able to return to work.

Tim's right kidney went to a married mother of two in her early 40s who had waited six years for a kidney. She also is already at home.

"His lungs and eyes might also have been used, but they were damaged", says Kim.

"While his left lung was deemed unviable from the outset, they hoped his right lung might be able to be used even though it was badly bruised."

A retrieval team arrived from Melbourne but the lung could not be salvaged.

The incredible generosity of Kim and Sharon stopped there but only because they were confronted with a concept they had not considered.

"When they asked us about his bone and skin I got a shock and said 'no'", says Sharon.

"It was something I just couldn't process at the time and, because he was under 18, we could over-ride his decision.

"But I know now those bones can make splints for children with cancer to give their own bones a chance to grow back.

"It was just that I never knew about bones and skin and I think people need to be aware of that and talk about it also."

Kim and Sharon want to stress to people they need to have an organ donor card if they don't want their family to override their request (if they are over 18).

The Australian Organ Donor Register is the national register now. A mark on a driver's licence is not enough.

"It's hard to do because your child looks alive. Tim was only the seventh South Australian organ donor this year, so they are desperate - it's really important.

"We'd rather have Timothy back but, in a small way at least, something good has come out of it."


Call for road change

Kim and Sharon want to see something done about the road between the dual carriageway and the town of Port Wakefield.

"Ideally, we would like to see a bypass or for the road to be made into a dual highway right through. But, at the very least, the speed must be reduced", they said.

"Danielle and Tim were both wearing seatbelts; they were not speeding and hadn't been drinking. They did nothing wrong.

"Our hope is the investigation and the law follow through thoroughly in relation to the accident."

Heather Drysdale, Danielle's mother, also says something needs to change on that part of the road.

"We walked that spot a week after the accident and there are so many red and black crash markers that something must be wrong there", she said.

"It doesn't have to be a big, costly change. Perhaps just slowing the speed limit so that you are not merging at 110 km/h and coming into those bends just before the town."


About Tim

Tim's organ recipients couldn't have asked for a better chance at life.

A talented athlete, he was aiming for the 2012 Olympics in either pole vault or decathlon.

"He would have peaked at about that time", says Kim. "He was an exceptional athlete and won the most points award for his age group each year at Port Adelaide Athletics Club.

"He still holds three State Lutheran School records from his days at Maitland Lutheran School."

Tim's talents didn't stop there. He had been a boarder at Prince Alfred College (PAC) since 2004, after being awarded a scholarship via the Old Collegians Association.

There, he won the Year 11 Art Prize and had been nominated again this year. He was musically talented, playing five instruments and, at the time of his death, was on his way back to Adelaide for rehearsals of the school production of Godspell, in which he had a major role.

His family went to the final performance, dedicated to Tim, on June 10.

"Tim is being honoured in many ways apart from the hundreds who attended his funeral at Minlaton and a memorial at Kent Town", says Kim.

"He always tried to do well for us and for PAC because of the opportunity he had been given with the scholarship. PAC has been unbelievably good and is dedicating a garden to Tim that sits just outside of his bedroom at school.

"The pole vaulting fraternity is creating a perpetual trophy in his honour and Athletics SA is talking about hanging some of his art at Santos Stadium. His Year 12 art project was an eight-piece painting on pole vaulting. He had completed six of them.

"He was our youngest son (Tim's brothers are Peter and Samuel) and was really achieving things - he was really going to go somewhere."

For Sharon, like any mum, Tim will always be the baby.

"He was our baby. You do everything right but it's so random - it doesn't matter what you do. We tried not to brag about him, and he certainly never did. He had lots of awards he didn't even tell us about. We had so many hopes and dreams for him but I wouldn't have cared what he'd achieved", she said.

"Both he and Danielle were strong Christians. I know I will see him again, but the prospect of living another 40 years without him is awful, although I know that is a drop in the ocean compared with eternity."

In addressing the Kent Town memorial, Kim asked:

"Do you know what would be an even greater tragedy than the death of Timothy and his companion, Danielle, in that terrible accident? It would be to not learn something and not improve ourselves for having been through this experience.

"Timothy gave us all, myself included, a lesson in life. Don't give up, give it 110 per cent and in his words 'come on, it's all good'."


About Danielle

For parents, Tom and Heather, the prospect of organ donation was never raised because the eldest of their four children died at the scene on May 16.

"Danielle had always wanted to be an organ donor and had elected that way on her driver's licence. It shocked me when I found that doesn't mean your wishes must be fulfilled by your family", said Heather. "Because she died on impact, she couldn't donate organs but what we didn't know, and weren't told about at the time, is tissue donation would have been possible. I think that is a really important thing to know about."

That said, Heather is not sure she and Tom would have agreed to bone and/or tissue donation had they been asked.

"I don't know if I would have said yes. That's a whole new concept to me I haven't been able to get my head around, but people need to be aware that is possible. If they are aware beforehand it won't be a foreign thought."

Danielle was home schooled at Maitland until this year, when she left her family, including sisters, Shantelle and Melissa, and little brother, Timothy, to move to Adelaide and study at Tabor Bible College in Adelaide.

She was at the wheel as she and Tim drove back to Adelaide that day, and bore the brunt of the crash with the four-wheel-drive.

"She was a strong Christian", says Heather. "Danielle's heart was always for other people, so in a way it was disappointing she didn't get to help other people like Tim did, but that's the way it is."

Heather and Tom want people to discuss organ and tissue donation and "talk about your wishes with family members".


Don't rely on your driver's licence

In February of this year, responsible Ministers in all states decided to change the organ donor system from "intent" to "consent".

This means the system no longer relies on the tick on your driver's licence that always only indicated the intent to donate organs or tissue. Now you need to register on the Australian Organ Donor Register - the national register - to give consent.

This means no matter where you are in Australia or whether or not your driver's licence is with you, any hospital can check the national register to see if you are willing to donate.

You may also use the same register to note your objection to donating organs and/or tissue.

While consent will be discussed with a family member at the time of death, your wishes cannot be over-ridden unless you are under 18 years old.

If you are 16 or 17 years old you can register your intention to donate on the Organ Donor register, but consent will be discussed with a family member at time of death.

Anyone can donate organs and tissue - there is no age limit, but age and medical history will be considered. Don't assume you are too old or not healthy enough.

Make your family aware of your decision and discuss it.

Australian Organ Donor Register forms were sent to every household in South Australia, including rural homes, up until May 19.

If you didn't receive one and wish to register your consent (or objection) to organ and/or tissue donation, ask at your doctor's surgery, Motor Registration office, Medicare office or ring the SA Organ Donation Agency on 8207 7233.