Letters written by people who have benefited from organ donations show how truly life-changing a transplant can be. Photo / Getty Images
Letters written by people who have benefited from organ donations show how truly life-changing a transplant can be. Photo / Getty Images
Letters written by organ donor recipients have provided a heartbreaking insight into how much they honour and respect the gift they have been given.
In the letters provided to news.com.au by DonateLife, recipients and their families express the gratitude they have towards those who agreed to donate their organs and how the decision has changed their lives, reports new.com.au.
The family of Andrea Grech, a two-year-old girl who needed a liver transplant when she was just nine months old, said the donor was "always in our thoughts".
Andrea had a biliary atresia, a rare disease of the liver and bile ducts and would not have survived without a transplant.
"There are no words that can express the immense gratitude and love our family holds in our hearts for the gift your loved one gave," Andrea's mother Paola wrote.
"You gave me the gift of sight," Jessica writes in her letter. "Before my transplant I was considered legally blind".
The transplant meant she could get some of independence back and do things like learn to drive a car and read restaurant menus without help from her friends.
"I often wonder who you were," she writes. "Your age, your likes and dislikes … I hope with all my being that your life was a happy one.
"Within all the mystery, there is one thing I do know for certain — that your heart was a generous one."
Jessica says she wishes she could thank the donor in person for the "humbling" gift they had given her.
"Your choice was bigger than you most likely ever imagined and I carry it for you with pride."
Letter from Jess Southers: Part 1. Photo / Supplied
Letter from Jess Southers: Part 2. Photo / Supplied
Kate Burrows, 3, also got a liver transplant after being born with biliary atresia. She had to undergo two lifesaving operations, one in 2016 and another in 2017.
Now she is thriving and doing all the things a healthy toddler should be able to do.
"Your decision has enabled our three-year-old daughter to run, play, laugh, scooter and dance ballet," mum Clare wrote.
"Not a day passes that we don't think of you and feel complete and utter gratitude for the decision you made.
Throughout this week, news.com.au has encouraged Australians to sign up to be organ donors as part of the Take a Minute, Save a Life campaign in support of DonateLife Week.
Many recipients have spoken about how grateful they've been for the organs they have benefited from.
"I'm so lucky and it's thanks to my uncle," Julia Furey said of the uncle who donated a kidney to her.
The Sydney resident was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) when she was just eight years old and by the time she was 15, her kidneys had started to fail.
"The doctors didn't think I would make it to my 21st (birthday)," she told news.com.au.
Donating a kidney is a difficult and painful operation and Ms Furey describes it as a "truly altruistic" gift that has changed her life.
After six months in rehab where she learned how to walk again, she finished university and found a full-time job. Now aged in her early 30s, Ms Furey said the transplant has allowed her to live a full life.
"I went back to playing netball, to socialising and dating. It's been incredible and it's thanks to my uncle," she said. "I've got a 63-year-old kidney in my body and I'm so lucky."
