Simon's Story

"In 2013, my fiancée Kathrin passed away suddenly due to what’s known as a subarachnoid brain haemorrhage."

It was at that time that the neurological team in the intensive care unit (ICU), who I was dealing with, realised she was a perfect candidate for organ donation and they asked whether she would be okay with that, or if she would have been okay with that.

I wasn’t 100% sure, as it was not really a subject we’d discussed, but she had mentioned something about it. So I contacted her brother who I’d been speaking to, and he confirmed that yes, she was definitely a donor.

Several hours later the Organ Donation NZ Co-ordinators, Maree Hulton and Lauren Sprenger turned up and there was a very easy process that we went through. I was just all over the place in terms of being still traumatised and in shock, and I was just running on adrenalin. But they knew this and it was very easy to work with them and work through all the paperwork.

Well I guess that Kathrin would be happy too, to know that her life hadn’t been a waste and that her death wasn’t in vain and that something good came out of it. It’s the only good thing in that sort of situation, I think, to know that other people have got a chance at life.

Expand to read more

Simons story video transcript
PDF 55kb

Questions & Answers

Do you still have questions, or need answers?

“

“Doctors told me I probably wouldn’t make it to my 30th birthday, but I’ve got a very stubborn streak and wanted to live my best life while I could...that surgery was the best thing I’ve ever done because it gave me back my life. Six months after the transplant, I was skiing on Mt Ruapehu and nine months after that, climbing Nelson’s mountains."

Jessica van Slooten tells her story of how a pair of donated lungs not only saved her life but totally transformed it.

”