Most bittersweet wedding day of all
Bride saved by lung transplant is walked down the aisle by father whose tragic girl donated her organs
RESPLENDENT in full Highland dress, John Moffat looks the picture of a proud father on his daughter’s big day.
But there is more to this heartwarming scene than meets the eye.
For the blushing bride and the proud Scot who gave her away are related only thanks to the extraordinary life-giving power of organ donation.
Mr Moffat’s stepdaughter Rhona died of a brain haemorrhage three years ago at the age of only 33, days after giving birth to a daughter.
Lisa Shrive, the bride standing so happily beside 60-year-old Mr Moffat, would have died too – were it not for the donation of Rhona’s lungs.
Since her own father had passed away several years ago, she could think of no more suitable candidate to give her away when she tied the knot with her fiancé Jim Simkin than the man her organ donor had known as Dad.
She said: ‘I couldn’t think of anyone I would want more beside me than John. He is like family.’
Miss Shrive could hardly have imagined such a scene when she was facing a race against time to have a lung transplant. Convinced it was a race she would lose, she put her affairs in order and arranged for her younger daughter Amy, 14, to be sent to Australia and adopted by friends.
The 48-year-old, of Nottingham, who has another daughter Fay, 23, and a six-year-old granddaughter Keira, was diagnosed with the lung condition sarcoidosis when she was 35. By July 2013, she was on the transplant list after an operation to remove half a lung – and time was running out fast.
She said: ‘I had been so active all my life. I loved riding horses, but by the age of 45 I was completely bedridden. Amy had to do everything for me, I couldn’t go any- where because I was constantly gasping for breath.
‘She had to wash me, get me into bed and help me with my nebuliser, which was trying to help me breathe. She slept in the same room as me for two years and constantly watched over me. She was fantastic but it was awful for such a young girl to see her mother go through what I did.’
Up in Edinburgh, meanwhile, a time of joy for the Moffat family swiftly turned to tragedy. Rhona Moffat had given birth to daughter Emma Jane on Christmas Eve 2013 and everything appeared to have gone smoothly. But within days she suffered the brain haemorrhage and could not be saved.
Her mother Jane, 56, said: ‘Rhona was so young and fit. We never thought we were going to lose her like this.’
The new mother’s organs were used to save five lives, including Miss Shrive’s.
As the lung patient started to recover, she wrote to Mrs Moffat and the pair continued to correspond. Since then, a close bond has developed between the families.
Mrs Moffat said: ‘I felt an instant connection with Lisa the moment that I met her. I put my hands on her chest and could feel it moving up and down with every breath she took with Rhona’s lungs, and I knew that it had only been made possible because of Rhona.
‘It was so emotional as I know that Lisa is only alive today thanks to the precious gift of Rhona’s lungs. It meant so much to actually be able to meet her.
‘We will be friends now for the rest of our lives. It was devastating when we lost Rhona, and to see Lisa doing so well, being a mother to her daughters, meant the world to us. It offers us some comfort.’
Her husband added: ‘It was a privilege to give Lisa away at her wedding. It gave me great pleasure.’
‘Completely bedridden’