Stories about organ and tissue donation
How did a donor organ change a recipient's life? And what does donation mean to the donor's surviving relatives? Read the personal stories of recipients, patients on the waiting list, and donor families here.
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'Standing in front of the class feels like coming home’
Jan has cystic fibrosis. Despite his healthy lifestyle, he gradually got worse. Until he received donor lungs.
'Donation didn't seem like anything for me, all that fuss...'
Luc's wife Annemiek is glad he donated organs. Especially after reading the thank-you letters.
'It was worth everything to me'
Abigail needed a liver transplant. Her mother Annemieke became a living donor: she donated part of her liver.
'Grief is with an o, but for me with an a'
Due to an accident, Babette's life comes to an abrupt end. With her organs, she saved several lives.
'Her farewell was a party she would have liked to have been at herself'
Larimar's parents donated her organs. In doing so, they spared three families the sorrow they feel.
'She lived briefly, but fully'
On an ordinary evening, the unthinkable happened: Fleur was hit by a car and died from her injuries. Her organs subsequently saved five other lives.
'Losing your child, that's not right'
Kjell, a boy of almost 16, was involved in a car accident and died shortly thereafter. His parents talk about their beloved son and how his organ donation gave three people a new life.
'I didn't even know donor bone existed'
With her crooked leg, Bo had trouble walking. A bone transplant provided the solution.
‘I thought: a donor organ is for sick people, right?’
In 2012, Jelger van der Weij from Amsterdam is a student with a part-time job. After some vague symptoms, his world is suddenly turned upside down: he has liver cancer. In 2015, he receives a donor liver: the first of three.
