"Eddie's heart beats on": Mum urges families to discuss organ donation wishes | Latest news

A mum whose son lost his life in a road traffic collision in 2024 has shared the story of her “kind and generous boy”, to help Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) encourage people to talk to their loved ones about organ donation before the unthinkable happens.

18-year-old Eddie Shore had just completed his final A-level exam and was facing a long summer ahead of him with plans to travel to Canada. After celebrating that evening with friends, they were driving home when, while stationary at traffic lights, another driver crashed into the rear of their vehicle at 93mph.

Eddie and his friends were rushed to Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) where his friend, the driver, was pronounced dead. Sadly, two days later Eddie, who had been in the front passenger seat, was found to have no brain activity.

Kerri explained: “The day before life support was withdrawn, we spoke with the donor nurse about donation and his wishes.

“I knew he was on the organ donor register because we had discussed it when he was 16 whilst filling out his details for his provisional driving licence.

“Knowing what Eddie was like, and how kind and generous he was, there was no question about what he would have wanted.”

It was NUH Specialist Organ Donation Nurse, Skye Irvine-Berry, who came to talk to Kerri about Eddie’s wishes. Skye recalled: “I met Eddie's parents in the most tragic circumstances. Knowing what Eddie would have wanted in this situation enabled them to support his decision. 

"Every day, opportunities to save lives are lost because families do not know their loved one's organ donation wishes. We urge you to talk to your family and friends about your decision so that those closest to you know what you would want."

Eddie’s donated organs went on to save five lives: his kidneys went to two recipients who had been waiting over 4 years for a transplant; his liver saved a teenage boy; his lung saved a man in his thirties. A year after Eddie's death, Kerri received a letter from the recipient of his heart.

She said: “It was a 52-year-old father of two who had been diagnosed with stage 4 heart failure. A transplant was his only chance of leaving hospital.

“The letter was beautiful, and the gratitude was overwhelming. It could easily have been any one of us, and it has brought us a lot of comfort knowing it is with someone who cherishes it.

“Eddie's heart beats on.”

Eddie's story is particularly poignant as the transplant waiting list is at its highest ever level. More than 8,600 people are currently waiting for a transplant, while family consent rates for organ donation have fallen by almost a fifth over the past five years.

Another NUH patient’s mum who knows only too well the importance of organ donors is Karen Taylor. In 2024, she also faced losing a child when her daughter collapsed and was rushed to Sheffield Children's Hospital. The family were told Grace’s kidneys had completely failed and she had only hours to live.

Grace was then blue-lighted to the Renal unit at QMC where they put her in an induced coma for a week to investigate what was happening. This is when they discovered she had a rare auto-immune disease which had attacked her kidneys and was starting to attack her lungs.

Grace’s mum and dad were desperate to help and to be a match. Sadly, Karen’s kidneys could not be considered as she had a history of skin cancer. Grace’s dad, Steve, turned out to be a perfect match, so much so that the only match that would better his score would be if she had an identical twin. The family's hopes were dealt a further blow when tests revealed that Steve had kidney stones and was therefore unable to donate to his daughter.

NUH Consultant Paediatric Nephrologist, Martin Christian, said: “For children on dialysis, like Grace, the knock-on effects are felt by the whole family whose routine must adapt significantly.  

“As a consultant caring for children with kidney transplants, and as manager of the Nottingham Children's Hospital Transplant Games team, I see children who are now able to live life to the max and the enormous benefits of transplantation for the children and their families.”

Grace has a message for people who are not yet on the organ donor register: “Signing up would help people like me. I never realised how hard it must be for kids who have to come in and have dialysis and miss school until I had to do it.

“It would help the children and the babies who I see. It’s hard for the little ones, they don’t understand what’s happening or why they can’t eat certain things.

“You would be giving the gift of life.”

Every week, nine people die waiting for a transplant. Yet one person's decision to become an organ donor could save up to nine lives.

It takes just two minutes to confirm your decision at organdonation.nhs.uk or via the NHS app.

Ask yourself this: if you needed a lifesaving transplant, would you accept one? If the answer is yes, would you say yes to becoming an organ donor?