News & Star

When I die I will help others live

Last updated at 13:40, Monday, 07 July 2008

As a mother herself, Chetna Reay knows how difficult it is to even think about what you would do if your child died.

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But, having donated one of her kidneys to save her own mother’s life, she also knows the true value of an organ transplant.

That is why Chetna, of Houghton, near Carlisle, has already spoken to her own son Taryn, seven, about what he wants to happen to his organs should the worst happen.

The 41-year-old is now urging all Cumbrians – old and young – to do the same, rather than risk waiting until it’s too late to make a difference.

Speaking out to promote National Transplant Week, Chetna said it was paramount that families stopped living in fear and talked openly about it as a matter of course.

She said her heart goes out to the parents of Theo Davies, the Cumbrian baby who is currently facing a life or death wait for a new heart.

The child, who is approaching his first birthday, was born with half a heart and desperately needs a transplant. Last week he was given just given two weeks to live if a donor wasn’t found.

But, after managing to survive without his life support machine for a few days, parents Ryan Davies and Rebecca Giles hope that he may now have a little bit longer.

However, the stark reality is that, unless a donor is found very soon, he won’t survive. And what makes it even sadder is that for that to happen, another child has to die.

Mother-of-one Chetna, who donated a kidney to her mother over a year ago, said it was a tragic situation – but one that arose far too often.

She believes that if more families sat down and talked about organ donation there would be more donors on the list.

“Nobody likes to think about it but you have to try and put yourself in the position of his parents,” she said. “When a child dies it’s tragic, but nothing you can do will bring them back. Surely, if you can give someone else a life you can take comfort from that for the rest of your life. You are giving their life to someone else’s child, so they don’t have to go through what you have had to.”

But she added that it was no good waiting until that day came to make the decision.

“If that does happen the last thing you are going to want to think about is organ donation. But if people thought more about it in advance then so many could live.”

Chetna decided to give a kidney to her mother, Gulabben Patel, in January last year. Without it doctors said the 63-year-old, who had spent two years on a kidney dialysis machine, would die.

Chetna is now fully recovered and says seeing the new lease it has given her mother has made it all worthwhile. She said she has no regrets.

She added that her own experience sparked her to talk to her own family about whether they would want their own organs donated.

“My little boy is only seven but since my operation we’ve sat down and talked about it with him,” she said.

“I think all adults and children need to be better educated so they understand what it’s all about and won’t be scared to talk about it.

“I’m all signed up. When I die they can have whatever they can use. It’s no use to me and actually I see it as a legacy. It comforts me to think that when I die I will be able to help others to live.”