Organ Donation Memorial gathering at Royal Worcestershire

WE all have a story. Some bits are interesting and enjoyable; some are mundane and challenging. But they all interweave to make us the people that we are.

But for some people, without organ donation, there is no continuing story.

This came home forcefully to me on Sunday when a small group of us met, in our ‘bubbles’, at the Organ Donation Memorial in Worcestershire Royal.

There were so many strands of stories in that place. To the right of me were the Wells family. Their son Jake had been an organ donor and his contribution had made a difference.

The family themselves had donated benches and planters in memory of Jake and had worked on making the memorial so much more beautiful than it was.

In front of me were Michael Amies and his son, whose wife Elizabeth had passed away recently. Both Michael and Elizabeth worked tirelessly to increase awareness of organ donation in Worcestershire, following their daughter Catherine’s death and donation of organs.

Michael was awarded the British Empire Medal for his work and in tribute to Elizabeth a new sculpture was installed on the memorial; roses wrought in iron climbing the central column, each rose symbolising a person who had received the donation of an organ and whose quality of life, or indeed their life itself, had been saved.

And to the left of me were the team of organ donation professionals whose job it is to negotiate the sensitive path of organ donation with family, and whose efforts, particularly Chris Clarke, had brought this memorial to life.

I was humbled to be in the presence of such inspirational people as I said a few words and did a short service of blessing.

I believe that his memorial is a sacred space in the hospital. A space where so many stories interweave: the donors and their families; the recipients of donation; the staff and awareness raisers.

All of these combine to let us know that life can spring forth out of death and that human kindness is the most glorious thing.