Lisa Wilson experienced the horror. Twice in two months. On December 9, 2015, she lost her 22 year old son. During hockey practice, Tom was hit in the back of the head. Victim of a huge brain hemorrhage, the young man could not be saved. Shortly after Tom’s funeral, on December 21, 2015, her husband suffered what doctors thought was a mini-stroke.
Further tests revealed that Graham was actually suffering from a brain tumor. After starting chemotherapy, he developed life-threatening sepsis. The journalist died on February 20, 2016, at the age of 63, “These few months have been nothing short of horrible, none of it really seemed real : organize two funerals and think about how Pippa and I could carry on”she confided.
“I lost a son and a husband”
“Oddly enough, knowing that Tom’s organs could save many lives kept me going, and that spring, I wrote letters to the recipients through Michelle, the transplant coordinator.”she added. Because before dying tragically, his son had registered on the register of
organ donors.
In total, 50 lives were saved or improved thanks to Tom’s organ donations. “In terms of organ donation, Tom was a gold mine. He was around twenty years old, in great shape and in good health. His organs were kept healthy thanks to a respirator, assured his mother.
I lost a son and a husbandboth well before their time, but what I have gained since then is of inestimable value”
The beautiful tribute to Tom
Among the people Tom saved was Fatima. At age 11, she was in end-stage liver failure caused by a rare disease called neonatal sclerosing ichthyosis-cholangitis. And Gordon Paw, 69, who needed a new heart due to cardiomyopathy, a disorder affecting the heart muscle.
Lisa had the opportunity to meet them several times. And it was together that they launched the Tom Wilson Memorial Fund, a charity launched by this mother to promote organ donation. In particular, it will sponsor Gordon to participate in the World Transplant Games in Dresden, Germany, next year. “It was so moving that this all happened in Nottingham, where Tom had studied at university, she confided. It was almost unreal.”
