10 Organ Donation Practices and End-of-life Care ... 245CASE 1: Susan’s Story
Amy tells us about her mother Susan Jane Milne, who was an organ
donor. Amy was 20 years old when her mother, a physically fit 44-year-
old, collapsed and needed resuscitation. In her story, Amy tells of the
shock following her father’s phone call regarding the collapse, and of the
horrendous, long journey to the hospital. In the hospital, her mother
was in intensive care on a ventilator. This is her story:
I remember going into see her and thinking, “she looks fine, there’s noth-
ing wrong with her. Why have they got all those machines connected to
her? It doesn’t make sense.” I told my sister that she must be fine because
when I touched her foot it twitched. I asked for proof of the damage and
the doctors showed us the x-ray scans of Mum’s brain and explained what
had happened. It was obvious that the damage was significant. The doc-
tors said their tests had also confirmed it was irreversible and that Mum
was brain dead. It was unbelievable. How could life go so quickly from
one minute being wonderful to absolutely devastating and to never be
quite the same again? I knew people had car accidents, got cancer, or they
got sick and died in tragic circumstances but why my family?
Later that day we were approached by the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) team
about turning off the ventilator and donating mum’s organs. “How could
they ask us now? It’s so soon. If we say yes this means that she’s definitely
dead and will NEVER wake up.” It was inconceivable thinking that if we
gave the go ahead it would be the last time I would be able to touch my
mother’s warm face, or see her chest rise and fall – even if it was a machine
making it work.
My aunties, sister, cousin and I chose to dress mum and prepare her for
her coffin ourselves. Some people think that it’s an unusual thing to do. I
admit it wasn’t easy seeing the incision that ran from between her breasts
to her belly button, but also very empowering as it was like looking at a
battle scar of a new generation of warriors. It was also one of the last dig-
nities we could give mum and overall it was a very rewarding and helpful
experience dealing with and accepting everything that had happened.[Post note: Susan’s lungs, liver and kidneys were donated]