'Mats was fine with them having everything, except 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 an applied mathematics student at university,' says his mother, Litania. 'He was preparing for a follow-up study at TU Delft. But during that time he was mainly busy with the student association. Mats liked being around friends. They would see each other privately or go out together. He was very smart and full of trivia. He could almost run all-evening programs with that, he was a real entertainer. Cheerful, spontaneous, social, that's what he was.'

Talk for a moment

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 bed. Mats was in very serious condition. Niels tells: 'His doctor was Diederik Gommers. Two days after the accident, he asked us: can we talk for a moment in the room next door? Then we knew it wasn't good. Indeed, he didn't have good news, because further treatment no longer made sense. Mats showed no reaction whatsoever to stimuli.'

Article in the newspaper

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 suitable. Mats was registered with 'no objection' in the Donor Register. And after that conversation we heard from my parents that Mats had talked about it with them three days before the accident. When he was visiting his grandpa and grandma, the newspaper had been on the table with an article about organ donation in it. Then Mats had spontaneously said: they can have everything from me, except my eyes and skin. He thought it was important that you can save lives with donation.'

Actively register

For Litania and Niels, this is special. Niels: 'It's fantastic that he said that. That we therefore knew exactly what he did and didn't want. And that he was actually able to donate his organs. Now something positive has come out of something tragic after all, because Mats was able to save 5 people with 7 organs. Mats no longer had any use for them and made others happy with them. It feels good that he helped others. We also told our story on TV and heard back from people that they found it powerful. And that they also registered actively, instead of the automatic 'no objection' that appears if you don't do anything yourself.'

Talk about it

They both find conscious registration and indicating what you want important. Litania says: 'Suppose Mats hadn't indicated this. Then that would have been a worry for us to make the right decision. It is so important that you talk about this with your loved ones. That they know what you would want.' Niels nods. 'Since Mats's passing, I've talked about it a lot with others. I then ask: do you know, for example, what your partner wants? Talk about it, ask. Many people put in the register: my next of kin will decide. But do they then know what difficult choice they have to make? Do they have an answer ready?' Litania nods and says: 'It is such a shame if perfect organs go to waste when it isn't clear what someone wants. You can prevent that by talking about it and recording a conscious choice.'