Father praises son’s act to save five Chinese patients

SYDNEY — An Australian organ donor’s family has praised their late son for his generosity and strength, after his selfless act helped save five Chinese patients.

Aged 26, Phillip Hancock was a kind and adventurous young man who taught English at Southwest University in Chongqing.

Tragedy struck in May when complications from type-one diabetes threatened Phillip’s life. At that time all that he could think of was how to help others.

His father Peter Hancock said: “Just helping another person was what he was mainly all about.”

With his parents by his side during his final moments, Phillip bravely told them his last wishes.

Although reluctant, with a heavy heart Phillip’s parents agreed to their son’s request and his liver, two kidneys and corneas were transplanted to five Chinese patients.

It was the first time a foreigner had become an organ donor in the city of Chongqing, where an image of medical staff bowing to Phillip in a hospital’s operating room has become a stirring symbol of China’s eternal gratitude.

As days have passed since the operations, Chongqing’s Red Cross Society revealed in June that all of the transplants were successful.

Both kidney recipients have made a strong recovery and are now able to walk by themselves, while the liver recipient has been moved from an intensive care unit to a general ward.

The other two patients who received cornea transplants have now fully regained their eyesight and been discharged from hospital.

“It is good to know that in five other people, that he is living on,” Hancock said.

While Phillip’s story has captured the hearts of people in China and furthered the national conversation on organ donation awareness, in Australia, the medical community has also praised his generous act and called on more people to follow his brave example.

“My heart goes out to Phillip’s family, what a generous act and what a generous human being,” said National Medical Director of the Australian Organ and Tissue Authority Dr Helen Opdam.

“I think Australians are generous people, I think we would all like the opportunity for ourselves or our family to receive a transplant if we needed one.”

“If we do want that then we need to be prepared to be donors as well,” she said.