I won these medals thanks to your Amy... they are for you
Transplant athlete on special gifts to family of tragic donor
AS Sue Bennett and Sharron Jones met for their first time they sobbed and embraced like old friends.
They had longed for this moment. Now they were going to cherish it.
Sitting down, Sue lifted the bottom of her shirt and let Sharron feel the scar where doctors implanted the new liver that saved her life.
That amazing gift was donated by Sharron’s daughter Amy after her own life was cut short by an epileptic seizure 14 months earlier, aged 24.
Sue, 48, says: “There were a lot of tears. I was trying to keep my composure but I felt so guilty that I was there and Amy wasn’t. And I blurted out, ‘Can you forgive me?’”
Sharron said there was nothing to forgive then presented Sue with an album of photos and letters written by Amy’s friends and family.
Sue says: “Going through that book, I got to know who Amy was and felt closer to her. She wasn’t a stranger any more. She was my hero.”
Sue gave Sharron the gold medal she won in the 800m at the British Transplant Games weeks earlier.
Sue admits: “It was all I had to offer her to say thank you.”
Sharron, 53, from Wrexham, adds: “When she gave me that medal, my heart stopped. It was such an amazing thing she had achieved.
“She has given me every medal she has won since at the British, European and World Transplant Games.”
This weekend, Sue hopes to give Sharron a new medal by becoming one of a handful of transplant recipients to complete a halfironman challenge.
She will swim 1.2 miles, cycle 61 miles and finish with a gruelling 13.1-mile run.
To make it more special, the event in Sue’s native Staffordshire is on the seventh anniversary of her transplant. And for the first time an “excited” Sharron will be there to cheer her on. She will join Sue’s husband Anthony, 50, and three children Millie, 19, Billy, 17, and Jack, 15. Sue fell seriously ill 15 years ago. Her weight plunged, she began bruising, and grew so tired she fell asleep during phone calls. Even worse was the itch that plagued her entire body. She was finally diagnosed with primary biliary cholangitis, a deadly liver disease that can be controlled. But her condition deteriorated. Sue was put on the transplant waiting list in 2014 and her brother asked to be a donor but she lost so much weight his liver was too big. With time running out, she was moved to the urgent waiting list and finally rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham when Amy was on life support. She says: “I can’t put into words the utter devastation when I realised I had to wait for a girl to die so I could live.” After saying goodbye, Sharron agreed to donate Amy’s organs. Her kidneys saved two other women. She says she does not think she could have made the decision if they had not talked about donation when Sharron’s sister-in-law passed away waiting for new lungs. Sharron adds: “I didn’t expect to be donating Amy’s organs 18 months down the line but I knew she would never have forgiven me if I’d said no.
“She was kind, caring and funny but she could be strong-willed.”
Days after her transplant on June 12, 2015, Sue searched for details about her donor before sending an anonymous letter to Sharron.
The pair met in 2016 at a Cheshire hotel where Amy had worked. Over the past six years they have forged a friendship that will last a lifetime.
Sharron says: “I was worried about Sue during the pandemic.
“It means so much to me, knowing that Amy is with her.”
Sue adds: “Amy gave me a whole new life. My illness made me realise how precious that is and I want to make the most of it.”
■ For more information, visit www. organdonation.nhs.uk and www.facebook.com/sharingyourwishes.