A young mother owes her life to a man who died after a beating and donated his liver to her. Over the years, a friendship has developed with his parents.
If he hadn’t died, she probably wouldn’t be alive today: Frankie McCulloch, a 20-year-old mother from the UK, owes her life to an unknown hero. As the Mirror reports, McCulloch received a liver transplant as a baby after suffering from a rare disease. The organ came from Lee Jones, a 22-year-old warehouse worker who tragically died after a senseless beating.
The young mother had suffered from biliary atresia since birth, a disease in which the bile ducts are underdeveloped, causing irreparable liver damage. After receiving Jones’ liver in January 2005, McCulloch recovered and her family began corresponding with the donor couple: “My parents were eager to meet Lee’s parents and thank them. Their precious son had saved my life,” says McCulloch.
Years later, the two families met and a deep friendship developed. “I owe everything to this man. I know that it is only thanks to him that I am alive today and have had the joy of becoming a mother myself,” says Frankie McCulloch.
Today, Frankie is the mother of a two-year-old son. To honor the memory of her lifesaver, she gave the little boy the middle name Lee.
Organ donation is a process in which organs are removed from a donor and transplanted to recipients who need a new organ due to organ failure. In Germany, the Transplantation Act (TPG) regulates organ donation. Here are the basic steps of the process:
Consent to organ donation: A person can declare his or her willingness to donate organs during his or her lifetime through an organ donor card, a living will or verbally to relatives.
Determination of brain death: In a potential donor, the irreversible loss of all brain functions – so-called brain death – must be determined through a series of tests that must be carried out by two independent doctors.
Organ removal: After brain death has been determined and consent to organ donation has been given, the donor’s organs are removed in a surgical procedure.
Organ distribution: The removed organs are distributed to the recipients via a central agency, in Germany this is Eurotransplant, according to certain criteria such as urgency and prospects of success.
Transplantation: The donated organs are transplanted to the recipients in the appropriate transplant centers.
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