GIVING GIFT OF LIFE
Family’s pride at saving lives amid tragedy
THE family of Archie Green say they are full of pride their son’s memory lives on through the legacy of lifesaving organ donation.
Tragedy struck the Lauderdale family last year when seven-year-old Archie died in a boating mishap at Orford.
The family were then faced with the confronting decision of whether to register their son for organ donation.
They did, and Archie (pictured) has made five organ donations since his death.
“He was a really wonderful little kid, so kind and sharing,’’ his father, Damien Green, said.
“We take an incredible amount of honour from it, we’re so proud of him. He would have loved that we made that choice.”
New data for 2020 released on Monday reveals the number of lifesaving organ donations made across Australia.
Archie was one of 13 Tasmanians and 463 deceased organ donors nationwide.
DAMIEN Green has taken “a lot of positivity out of such a heartbreaking scenario” knowing his late son Archie Green has contributed five organ donations since his tragic boating death last year.
National organ donation outcomes for 2020 shine a light on the generous families like the Greens agreeing to donate their loved ones’ organs.
Tragedy struck the Lauderdale family early last year when seven-year-old Archie was thrown off a ski biscuit in Prosser River, Orford.
Damien Green said he and wife Hayley Green and son Maison Green, 7, have endured “pure heartbreak” since the accident.
“We take it one day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time,” Mr Green said.
“We try and involve Archie and his name, we talk about him all the time and help Maison understand.”
Amid the tragedy, Damien and Hayley were faced with the “confronting” decision of registering their son for organ donation.
“We had a meeting with DonateLife in the midst of it all, we didn’t have a great deal of time to decide what we were going to do,” Mr Green said.
“After the initial shock we decided to go with the organ donation based on Archie's character — he was a really wonderful little kid, so kind and sharing.
“We take an incredible amount of honour from it, we’re so proud of him.
“He would have loved that we made that choice.”
Mr Green now advocates for DonateLife and encourages families to discuss their wishes before they have to face the hard decision. “We never talked about it as a family, we were a bit naive about the whole process,” he said.
“We’ve gained a lot of positivity out of it since then, but it would have been a much easier decision if we’d have had that discussion sooner.”
Thirteen Tasmanians donated organs and tissue last year, resulting in lifesaving transplants for 41 Australians, while 15 Tasmanian eye donations restored or improved sight for recipients.
Nationally, 463 deceased organ donors saved 1270 lives.
DonateLife Tasmania executive officer Davin Hibberd said Tasmania had the second-highest nationwide percentage of potential donors with 48.5 per cent of people over 16 registered, but he encouraged people to share their decisions with loved ones as law requires family to make the final decision.
“There are about 1650 people at any given point in time on a transplant wait list in Australia.
“Beyond that, about 12,000 dialysis patients could benefit from a transplant.”
Federal Regional Health Minister Mark Coulton said national kidney transplants halted from late March to mid May during COVID-19, with 18 per cent fewer operations performed “resulting in 153 fewer renal patients receiving the kidney transplant they need”.
He said urgent heart, lung, liver and paediatric transplants continued through the pandemic.
To become a donor or to double-check your registration, visit donatelife.gov.au
AFTER THE INITIAL SHOCK WE DECIDED TO GO WITH THE ORGAN DONATION BASED ON ARCHIE'S CHARACTER – HE WAS A REALLY WONDERFUL LITTLE KID, SO KIND AND SHARING DAMIEN GREEN