Organ and tissue donor advocate

“If you are willing to receive an organ to save the life of a loved one, surely you must be willing to register as a donor and discuss that decision with your loved ones."

My passion for organ and tissue donation comes from the fact that as long as I can remember I have been a believer in the miracle of life that one can pass on to another.

As years passed on and I was lucky enough to marry and am blessed with three beautiful sons, my wife and I would talk about organ donation openly in front of our boys. In years to come the topic of organ and tissue donation wasn't foreign to my family and as our boys grew into fine young men they would ask questions and we would discuss the topic freely.

When my eldest son Doujon had finished college and was planing his first overseas trip, my wife and I thought that we would let our sons know that we had both registered as organ donors.

As this conversation continued our three sons made their own wishes known to us, and now we all knew that they too were registered as organ donors.

Six months had passed and we found ourselves at Sydney Airport bidding Doujon, our first born, bon voyage as he walked through customs with a huge smile and a back pack that looked like he would topple over and end up like a turtle on its back with arms and legs wavering around he vanished from our sight.

Unfortunately that would be the last time we would see that beautiful smile. Doujon was attacked by four bouncers with only two days left before he was meant to fly home, he was left brain dead and his mother and I honoured his wishes of donation.

His donation was given in a country with one of the lowest donor rates in Europe and received plenty of media as an Australian family had agreed to donate their son’s organs in a country where he had lost his life so brutally.

This had a following effect, donor rates increased by nearly 300%. The increase of people registering had a huge impact not only in Europe but world wide.

We as a family had the unique opportunity of meeting three of the four recipients that Doujon's donation had given life or at least a better quality of life too.

Going through this heart wrenching time of our lives one thing that does stand out is the relief we felt after finding the strength to honor Doujon's wishes but more importantly was that family discussion we had around the dinner table, a discussion that has changed all our lives.

Oliver Zammit