24th February, 2005

JAN THORN

We were a happy family of six and my husband and I were so proud of our four children. We had two girls and two boys, something that doesn't happen to a lot of families. We thought we were quite clever.

Then turmoil struck. It was a Thursday night and I had a few late clients in my hairdressing salon and my husband had to pick Rachael up from netball practice. When they arrived home they both ran down from the car to see who would get to the house first. I hadn't had a very busy day, so I managed to cook a stew and vegetables and for some reason made dessert which is rare in our home because of time. Both the stew and dessert were Rachael's favourite. She was rapt. After dinner we were discussing our holiday plans which were to take place in approximately six weeks time. Everyone was so excited it was hard to settle them down for bed but eventually after we had played around dancing and joking, they said their prayers, I got my bear hug and out I went.

Within minutes of going to bed, Rachael walked out complaining of a killing headache and collapsed on the floor. Thinking she was clowning around as our daughter was quite a performer, I told her to go to bed; that a good sleep would help. All she mumbled was "I can't." We managed to get her back to bed but I knew it was some sort of a stroke. We called the doctor and rang the ambulance.

Rachael Thorn was only 11-years-old when she died of a massive brain haemorrhage in May, 1992   "Both Don and I knew they would ask us about organ donation. It was a hard decision in some ways, as we hadn't discussed it with our children. The only time (the subject had arisen was) when we had seen a TV program about people having received organs - we all thought that was great. Organ donation is a very personal thing, a very hard decision when it is your child lying there still very much alive in your eyes, those machines making her breathe and her chest going up and down. There was no visible sign on our daughter to tell us she was dead. She just looked asleep."

Rachael was taken to Angaston Hospital (in South Australia's Barossa Valley) and stabilised. The transfer team were sent for and we met them at Gawler. I knew it was serious but never, never did it cross my mind that our little girl would die. When we arrived at the Adelaide Children's Hospital, Rachael was taken in for scans. Dr Neil Matthews came back to tell me it was not good news. I just stood there as if he was telling this to someone else; this just wasn't happening to me. I had to ring my husband - thankfully our doctors had been with Don trying to prepare him for what might happen. Our pastor from Nuriootpa arrived just after Don at the children's hospital. It was great having him there to support us.

I prayed; I tried to read to Rachael; I tried to sing to her. We were waiting for her to sit up and say "I was only joking". Watching her lie there with tubes going here, there and everywhere, those life sustaining machines making noises, we felt so helpless. When we were told that there was no hope for our little girl we were devastated. Only a brain test would tell us how much life, if any, there was. I told the nursing staff that miracles do happen. I asked them if they believed in God and if they had seen any miracles but I don't think they wanted to get my hopes up.

So I prayed the hardest prayer I had ever prayed in my life. I asked God to either make her 100 per cent better - the way she was before the headache struck - or He was to take her to be with Him. There was to be no half-measures. We knew Rachael loved Jesus with all her heart as she often read devotions and had only said to me a week before she died that she couldn't wait to be with Jesus. We didn't think it would be quite this soon.

Both Don and I knew they would ask us about organ donation. It was a hard decision in some ways, as we hadn't discussed it with our children. The only time (the subject had arisen was) when we had seen a TV program about people having received organs - we all thought that was great. Organ donation is a very personal thing, a very hard decision when it is your child lying there still very much alive in your eyes, those machines making her breathe and her chest going up and down. There was no visible sign on our daughter to tell us she was dead. She just looked asleep.

When Dr. Matthews asked us the question of organ donation we could see how hard it was for him too. We knew we had to donate our daughter's organs, not for us but for her. Rachael would have wanted us to. Our Christian belief has taught us to love, trust and have faith in God; that when we die, we are made whole again with no blemishes whatsoever. Rachael could give her organs to help others live. We know she has gone to Heaven absolutely whole and renewed.

There had been a few young deaths in the Barossa Valley before Rachael. One young lad aged 17, had died due to a car accident and his organs had been donated and all I could think of was how his parents felt when they were told of their son's death. All we know now is that giving permission for the doctors to take our daughter's organs was the right decision. It was what Rachael would have wanted and we are happy knowing that Rachael died enabling others to have a better life for her organs were perfectly healthy.

Rachael died on the 22nd May, 1992, of a massive brain haemorrhage from an aneurysm which doctors say she would have had from birth. She was only 11 years old.

This article was first published at the website of Transplant Australia (www.transplant.org.au). For more information on the Federal Government's new organ donation consent form, visit www.health.gov.au.