'Donation didn't seem like my thing, all that fuss...'

A fanatical athlete, father of a young daughter, and in the prime of his life at nearly 50. That was Luc. At the end of 2017, an epileptic seizure proved fatal. Looking back, his wife Annemiek is glad he donated his organs. And she received a thank-you letter from 2 recipients.

'Before I met Luc, he had had a serious skiing accident. He had surgery on his head and recovered. They had said, however, that he might develop epilepsy after about 12 years. And exactly 12 years later, in 2008, he had his first seizure. After that, it happened a few times a year, always at night.'

'Gradually, he started having seizures more often. For my work, I took a course that sometimes required me to stay overnight. Then Luc's brother would come sleep at our place. We had explained to our daughter what her dad had, but she had never witnessed a seizure. Luc always ran long distances in the dunes and also ran the half marathon. The last time, the first aid team pulled him out of the race because he was staggering. He had had a seizure along the way. For the first time during the day.'

'He could just manage to say he was having a seizure'

'In 2017, I was at my course one evening. Luc wanted to watch the Sinterklaasjournaal with our daughter when he collapsed. He could just manage to tell her it was a seizure. She first fled to her room in a panic, but realized she had to do something and ran to the neighbors, who called 112.'

'The neighbor called me and I immediately took the train home. On the way, the police kept me updated. When I was halfway there, they called to tell me Luc had had a cardiac arrest. You don't know what to do then... The police picked me up at the station and we raced to the hospital with tires screeching.'

'I thought: maybe his party can still go ahead'

'Luc was kept in a coma. He had been resuscitated for 20 minutes in the ambulance, but upon arrival at the hospital, his heart was fine again. That seemed hopeful. I even thought that his 50th birthday party, the following Saturday, might still go ahead. After all, it had always ended well before.' 'The next day, the situation was completely different. A scan had shown that his brain was swollen; we had to prepare for the worst. Then all my hope vanished. Earlier that day, I had already had the feeling that he was no longer there.'

'Donation didn't seem like my thing, all that fuss...'

'The day after, Luc turned 50. They didn't want to perform the brain death examination on his birthday, but because Luc was registered as a 'yes', we did have the conversation about donation, together with Luc's family. Donation didn't seem like my thing, all that fuss... But I entered into the conversation and wanted to know the ins and outs. How does it work? What exactly do they do? What does he look like afterwards? Everything was explained incredibly well.'

'The clarity and care convinced me. I experienced that care throughout the entire process. The nurses also waited for me after the retrieval surgery. One of them had been with him the whole time and she said they had been kind to him. That moved me. I was also well prepared for how Luc would be after the surgery. It all went with great care for us. And my image was correct: you couldn't see anything.'

'No fewer than 6 people received something from Luc: his heart, liver, kidneys, or corneas. That is such a great comfort to me! He gave 6 people a longer or better life. I had already accepted that he was no longer here, and this was a gift on top of that.'

'Those letters supported me enormously'

'Shortly after the donation, I received a thank-you letter from 2 recipients. That supported me enormously. It gave me a sense of comfort. I saw in those letters that his death had not been in vain. They both wrote that they had survived by the skin of their teeth thanks to the donation.'

'When Luc had been dead for 5 years, I received another letter from one of these recipients. I realized that the 5-year milestone must also be a kind of anniversary for him. And once again, that letter was a huge comfort. So even after so many years, a letter still has a major impact.'