Saving lives through organ and tissue donation
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On episode six of the Barts Health podcast ‘Treating You’ we spoke with Lisa Wilson, who sits on The Royal London Hospital’s organ donation committee
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Lisa has been involved in a project to create an organ donation memorial sculpture in memory of loved ones who have donated their organs
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In December 2015, Lisa’s 22-year-old son Tom died in a freak accident playing hockey and his organ and tissue donation saved the lives of up to 50 people.
On episode six of the Barts Health podcast ‘Treating You’ we spoke with Lisa Wilson, who sits on The Royal London Hospital’s organ donation committee.
Lisa has been involved in a project to create an organ donation memorial sculpture in memory of loved ones who have donated their organs.
However, the reason why Lisa sits on this committee is a very tragic one. In December 2015, Lisa’s son Tom, who was 22 years old at the time, was playing hockey when he was hit on the back of the head in a training session. Tom then suffered a brain haemorrhage and had a heart attack on the pitch.
Thanks to Tom, his organ and tissue donation have saved and improved the lives of up to 50 people.
In the podcast episode Lisa speaks about the events leading up to Tom’s death, the lives he saved through his organ and tissue donation, her grief of losing her son and then tragically, two months afterwards, losing her husband Graham as well.
Lisa Wilson said: "It was such a proud moment this week when Vital Arts announced artist Saad Qureshi had been commissioned to create the Organ Donation Donor Memorial at the The Royal London Hospital where Tom donated. My role as a donor family representative on the organ donation committee (ODC) has been entirely focussed on securing a site, a place for families to reflect and a memorial to promote organ donation. It's great it's now finally happening!
"Thank you to Barts Health for inviting me to speak on the 'Treating You' podcast. I hope it will encourage listeners to sign the Organ Donation register and most importantly have conversations with loved ones about giving the most precious gift of all - the gift of life. After all, Tom did."
Listen to Lisa and Tom’s story on all streaming platforms here .
Read more:
- Find out how you can register to become an organ donor here .