"Mats would let them have anything, except for his eyes and skin."

After a night out with friends, Mats gets into a serious accident on his way home and ends up in the hospital. "Mats was a university of applied sciences mathematics student," his mother, Litania, says. "He was preparing for a follow-up study at TU Delft. But during that time, he was mainly focused on his student association. Mats loved being with friends. They would see each other privately or at a night out. He was very smart and full of trivia. He could almost put on full-evening shows with that; he was a real entertainer. Cheerful, spontaneous, social—that’s who he was."

Let's talk

When Niels and Litania were traveling back to the Netherlands after their vacation in Italy, they received a call from their other son. He was glued to his brother’s hospital bedside. Mats was in very critical condition. Niels recounts: ‘His doctor was Diederik Gommers. Two days after the accident, he asked us: "Can we talk in the room next door for a moment?" That was when we knew things were not good. He indeed had no good news, as further treatment no longer made sense. Mats was showing absolutely no response to stimuli.’

Newspaper article

Litania: ‘We immediately thought of donation and asked if Mats would be a good donor, even before Diederik had brought it up. Diederik replied that Mats was certainly a suitable candidate. Mats was registered in the Donor Register as having "no objection." And after that conversation, we heard from my parents that Mats had talked to them about it three days before the accident. When he was visiting his grandparents, a newspaper had been on the table with an article about organ donation in it. Mats had said spontaneously: they can have everything of mine, except for my eyes and skin. He felt it was important that you can save lives through donation.’

Actively register

For Litania and Niels, this is special. Niels: "It is fantastic that he said that. That because of it, we knew exactly what he did and did not want. And that he was actually able to donate his organs. Now, something positive has come out of something tragic, because Mats was able to save 5 people with 7 organs. Mats had no use for them anymore and made others happy with them. It feels good that he helped others. We also shared our story on TV and heard back from people that they found it powerful. And that they have now actively registered themselves, instead of the automatic 'no objection' that is there if you do nothing yourself."

Talk about it.

Registering consciously and stating your wishes are both considered important. Litania says: ‘Suppose Mats hadn’t indicated this. Then it would have been a concern for us to decide the right thing. It is so important to talk about this with your loved ones. That they know what you would want.’ Niels nods. ‘Since Mats passed away, I have talked about it with others a lot. I ask them: do you know what your partner wants, for example? Talk about it, ask them. Many people put in the register: my next of kin will decide. But do they know what a difficult choice they have to make? Do they have an answer ready?’ Litania nods and says: ‘It is such a shame when perfect organs are lost because it isn’t clear what someone wants. You can prevent that by talking about it and recording a conscious choice.’