Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week.
(Media Release (Below - Click here))
Public Talk by Dally Messenger in the City Square of Melbourne
Sunday Feb 17, 2002
Acting Minister for Health Bronwyn Pike
Dr Neil Boyce, Organ Donor Team (Kim, Nina, Lisa), Transplant
Recipients
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am going to speak about the person whom I came to love more than anyone else, Kathleen Mary Hurley. I have had a lot to do with death and I am shocked by how deeply I am grieving about her, and how cruel death is. If a I weep a little take no notice. I'll recover (and you can weep along with me if you like).
There is nothing good about dying and death that I can see. Except perhaps one thing, organ donation. When a person like Kathy tells her family and the world that her organs are to be donated, in the midst of distress, in the midst of dreadful shock and sadness, something positive and good happens. What occurs is that in dying one salvages what one can, and gives the gift of more life to someone else. When we, Kathy's family and friends, received some lovely letters from the grateful organ recipients (anonymous of course) we were marvellously consoled.
Philosophers and religious theologians can put together the nicest words in the world, and I can't see myself ever being convinced of any other good value in death - except that life goes on. (I just hope they find the reversing age gene pretty soon.)
Kathleen Mary Hurley made it very clear in her papers (Much better idea to discuss with family - the decision was simple and clear for family) that she donated her organs to her fellow human beings. I am up here because I was her partner and her executor, I did nothing but obey her instructions.
She was a remarkable person and my tribute to her today is relevant for two other important reasons.
You may not realise but Melbourne has the best funerals in the world. It is the only city in the world wherein you have a significant group of high standard professional celebrants who painstakingly prepare, create, check and deliver the best eulogies and ceremonies in the world. Kathy was a wonderful celebrant herself and a pioneer of these world class standards.
Well ahead of her time she created something else, that the Organ Donation Team would love. She started the Kathy Hurley Funeral Planning Service. She did it because, as a celebrant, at the time of death she came across so many people who were totally disorganised. This is a separate plan to a Will but it tells Executor and family what sort of funeral you want, and a lot of other important detail besides, and including, a very important one, about the donation of organs.
She followed her own rules, she made it clear she donated her organs and we, her colleague celebrants, knowing where we were going, gave her the best funeral ceremony and tributes we could devise. I intend to put the Kathy Hurley Funeral Planning service up on the Internet, and I shall let the Organ Donation Team know all the details.
I am so glad that the organ transplants from Kathy were successful because, in my near inconsolable state, it has been the greatest consolation of all. To know that her corneas gave sight to someone who couldn't see, that her kidney took someone else off a dialysis machine, that her liver gave life and vigour to a person dragged down by illness, is unbelievably comforting.
I was a publisher at one stage of my life and Professor Parer of Monash University employed me to assist the University with a book on dialysis machines. I found the whole world of dialysis for liver disease very distressing. When I received the letter from the donor, anonymously of course, of how, because of Kathy, this man, was taken off a dialysis a machine, when he received the transplant, I was reduced to jelly blubber.
Finally, I 'd like to pay tribute to the team who runs this show for the Red Cross Blood Service. They are in the business, as Kathy was, of adding to the sum total of human happiness, in what is very often a depressingly miserable world. As one of my heroes, Lionel Murphy would say, "if it adds to the sum total of human happiness you do it, and if it doesn't you don't."
And Kathy Hurley did, and all organs donors do, and the Victorian Organ Donation Service team that organises it all, does it too.
And just by the way, I would like to take this opportunity (and I want you to tell it to everyone) that I donate my organs too - you are all witnesses to this statement. And if you decide to donate your organs, tell the person or persons you are with today, as well as your family who are not here, what your wishes are.
I thank the Organ Donation team, especially the compassionate, competent Nina, whom we dealt with, for this opportunity to weep again for the lovely Kathleen, my lovely Kathleen.
MEDIA RELEASE
Australian Organ Donor Awareness
Week
18-24 February 2002
The Victorian Organ Donation Service LIFEGift wants to put
the topic of
organ and tissue donation on everyone's lips, during Australian
Organ Donor
Awareness Week 2002.
During the Week, recognised nationally from 18-24 February, all
members of
the Victorian and Tasmanian community will be encouraged to THINK
about
becoming an organ and tissue donor, to TALK about it with friends
and family
and to TELL their family about their decision.
"The importance of discussing your attitudes to organ
and tissue donation
with your family, cannot be emphasised enough," said LIFEGift's
Executive
Officer Dr. Neil Boyce.
It is hoped that the THINK, TALK, TELL
message (which will be central to
LIFEGift's community awareness and education activities over the
coming
months) will encourage people to find out what their family members
wishes
are, with respect to organ and tissue donation.
"It can be as simple as a quick chat over dinner or while
watching TV," said
Dr Boyce.
"Organ and tissue donation will not go ahead without the
family's consent.
Most families will carry out a family member's wish if they know
what it is.
If they don't know, the decision is much harder."
"Although people can also express their willingness to
become an organ donor
by joining the Australian Organ Donor Register, they should still
discuss
this decision with their loved ones," said Dr Boyce.
Around the world, organ transplant waiting lists are rising steadily,
hence
raising community awareness and understanding about the need for
organ and
tissue donation is becoming more and more important.
In Australia alone, over 2000 people are currently waiting for
an organ
transplant or tissue graft. Many of these people are seriously
ill and a
transplant is their only viable treatment option. For many, the
generosity
of an organ donor and their family, will mean a new chance for
life itself.
For more information about organ donation please call LIFEGift
on 9349
4762.
To join the Australian Organ Donor Register,
Call 1800 777 203, email
aodr@hic.gov.au, or visit any Medicare Office. More information
about the
Australian Organ Donor Register can be found at www.hic.gov.au/organ.
-ends-
The Victorian Organ Donation Service - LIFEGift, is managed
by the
Australian Red Cross Blood Service and is responsible for coordinating
all
organ donation activities in Victoria and Tasmania.
LIFEGift is also responsible for raising community awareness
about organ
donation, improving the knowledge of healthcare professionals
and ensuring
that the needs of organ donors and their families are addressed.
Contact:
Lisa Mansour
LifeGift Coordinator - Public Relations
Victorian Organ Donation Service - LifeGift
538 Swanston St
CARLTON VIC 3053
Ph: (03) 9349 5715
Fax: (03) 9349 2730
Email: lmansour@arcbs.redcross.org.au