Six year old donor

It’s hard when someone dies young.

It’s hard on their family, on the doctors and nurses who saw the child, and hard on the tissue banks.  We are still human, and are affected when we receive notice of the death.  We don’t want people to die young.  On the other hand,  the younger the donor, the more viable the tissue. 

This referral was for a six year old.  She was fine on Sunday, biking to church with her family.  During church, she began coughing and excused herself to get a drink.  As she returned from the drinking fountain,  she suddenly clutched her chest and collapsed. 

There were several off-duty nurses attending church that morning, and CPR was immediately initiated.  EMS transported her to the hospital where further care was provided.  Her heart restarted, but she never regained consciousness; her brain had suffered an anoxic injury and she would not recover. 

The girl’s family was pragmatic about her diagnosis. They recognized that she was breathing only by the grace of God and machines, and decided to make her an organ and tissue donor. The Organs Team put her on a rigorous course of antibiotics (to kill any infection that might be present), then recovered her organs.

I recovered her corneas a few hours after the Organs Team finished their work. I was afraid of how I would react to seeing such a young donor, but had no negative reaction when I saw her body.  I didn’t see tragedy; instead, I saw a child.  She was average-looking, freckled and sweet, but still human.  It was her potential that had shifted.  In death, she had transcended beyond being an ordinary child by donating her organs and tissues.  In the body bag, I saw the potential to save many lives and heal many bodies.  I was relieved that her family had decided to donate; it made her death meaningful.

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A security guard watched me perform the recovery; I explained what I was doing in each step and why.  The procedure can be “gross” to some, and I was relieved that the guard reacted positively to what he saw.  He proudly told me that he has the heart symbol on his driver’s liscense showing he’s a donor; I encouraged him to talk to his family about his feelings so that they can honor his wishes. The security guard was very enthusiastic about all tissue donation by the time I finished the recovery, and said that he was going to tell his friends all about what he saw today.