Family’s plea to change organ donation system

Family’s plea to change organ donation system

16 January 2019

THE family of a Downpatrick man who died before he could get a heart transplant hope that an opt-out organ donation system will be soon introduced to Northern Ireland.

Tommy McManus’s sister has revealed that even in their grief, the family honoured his commitment to organ donation by giving the 43 year-old’s corneas so that someone else may see one day.

Roisin Taggart said that she believes a system where people choose to opt out of donating their organs in the event of the death will increase the number of organs available.

The current situation in Northern Ireland, as opposed to Scotland and Wales, is that people who do not wish to donate their organs have to opt-out by registering their details. England is to introduce an opt-out system in 2020.

Mrs Taggart said: “We need to talk about the people who have lost their battle for an organ. We need to put faces to these tragedies and we all need to make sure our families know about our wishes.”

Mr McManus was buried last Thursday in his home town after he died from multiple organ failure at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle Upon Tyne on December 29.

Despite being put on a “super-urgent transplant list” just days before Christmas, he succumbed to his illness as he waited for a suitable heart to become available.

A successful mechanical engineer who travelled the world with his career, Mr McManus became seriously ill in 2015. 

After six months of investigations, doctors diagnosed that Mr McManus had suffered cardiac arrest.

A heart transplant was ruled out as he was too ill at the time, but doctors did all they could for him by fitting a mechanical pump in anticipation of a new heart.

Despite being born with a congenital heart defect known as Transposition of the Great Arteries, the former De La Salle High School student had already defied the odds to live a normal life up until then.

Raised in the Colmcille Road area of Downpatrick, Mr McManus returned home to be close to his father Tom — his mother Colette had passed away earlier — sisters Lisa and Roisin and their families.

While he waited on the standard transplant list for three years, Mrs Taggart said that her brother bore his illness well.

“Tommy was unable to work or travel and relied heavily on us for basic day to day things like shopping, cleaning, etc,” she said.

“His mobility was extremely limited through fear of over-exertion. Still, he did everything he could to aid his recovery.”

Tommy and his family were so thankful to the medical team at the Freeman Hospital for saving his life in 2016 that they raised over £8,000 in order “to pay back” the care they had received.

Mrs Taggart says that her family know that the doctors “did absolutely everything in their power” to keep Tommy alive and had promised that he would have had his heart transplant before Christmas.

“There is a typical wait of between 8-10 days for a heart and we just don’t know why one didn’t become available. But it didn’t and his lungs and kidneys began to fail as a consequence of his heart failure,” said Mrs Taggart.

Despite the efforts of the “phenomenal medical team”, Tommy required dialysis and ventilation to keep him alive.

The medical team were unable to get him breathing on his own again and he was taken off the transplant list.

“We had seen Tommy go through some much and come out of the other side that it never crossed our minds that he wouldn’t get a heart,” said Mrs Taggart.

She and her family now know from personal experience just how hard it is to make a decision to donate a loved one’s organs. 

“Due to Tommy’s condition, he was only eligible to donate his corneas,” she explained.

“When we were approached about this, my father’s immediate reaction was, ‘No, he’s been cut into enough’, despite the fact that Tommy campaigned so passionately about organ donation, and we all knew his wishes. 

“Thankfully myself and my sister were able to be Tommy’s voice, and he was able to give one final and very precious gift to someone.

“We desperately hope that the subject of organ donation can be normalised, and that a change in legislation and attitude is seen very soon. We are just so sorry that this change will come too late for Tommy.”

Mrs Taggart paid a loving tribute to her only brother: “Tommy was a fiercely independent, successful and outgoing young man. He was extremely intelligent, loved technology and was a fountain of knowledge. 

“No matter where he travelled, he made friends instantly.”

Mr McManus is survived by his father, sisters, brothers-in-law Bryon and Kieran, nephews Daniel, Paul and Matthew, nieces Emma and Erin, great-nephews Jay and Donal and great-nieces Chloe and Freya. 

• To join the NHS organ donation register, go to www.organdonation.nhs.uk.register-your-details