Organ donation: How little Ethan gave life to others

A LITTLE over three years ago, Jon and Michelle Seccull found themselves in a heartwrenching situation. Their gorgeous three-year-old toddler had been hit by a train, and was in hospital in a critical condition.

“It was in late 2011 and we were living in a little rural property in Victoria,” Jon explains to news.com.au. “My son Ethan loved watching the trains going past, and he decided to climb the back fence and wave to the train. He was struck by that train and airlifted to the Royal Children’s Hospital.

“The surgeons worked gallantly. After two hours they delivered the news that Ethan’s brain injury was as such that we he wouldn’t recover from it. My wife and I were standing beside him and we just looked at each other and said, what wouldn’t we give to be given something that helps him live.

“Ethan’s life support was turned off. People don’t want to think of children dying, but it does happen.

“We’d had the conversation about organ and tissue donation with each other, but we found ourselves in the position realising that this doesn’t just happen to older people, it happens to children as well. And we thought, if that was Ethan laying there dying because his kidneys had failed, we would have taken someone else’s kidney to save him. It would be selfish to think you’d take an organ, but not be prepared to give it.

“We called the doctor in and detailed to her that we wanted Ethan to become an organ donor, and he was taken to theatre.

“We couldn’t get our miracle, but through Ethan we could give others theirs.”

It’s a remarkable story, and Jon and Michelle responded to a need that is only too real.

“Over 1600 people at any one time are waiting for an organ,” explains Dr Sally Tideman, DonateLife SA State Medical Director. “The rates of donation have increased, but there is always a gap between the people waiting for organ or tissue, and the availability.”

The reasons for that are many and varied. For a start, finding a suitable organ at the right time is difficult. Just one per cent of hospital deaths allow for organ donation, and less than one per cent of people who die in hospital can become an organ donor.

“There are two ways in which donation can occur,” explains Dr Tideman. “One is after a patient has been declared brain dead, and that’s when the blood flow to the brain has ceased. The other pathway that a patient can donate is after circulatory death, which has to happen within a 90 minute period.

“Then there are many criteria around whether someone’s organs can be used. You might have the wrong blood group, the organ might be too small or too big, you might have had cancer. There are lots of exclusion criteria so it’s really important to identify every possible donor,” she says.

You’re probably also familiar with the myth that if you’ve registered as a donor, doctors won’t try as hard to save your life — but Dr Tideman points out that that’s exactly what it is: A myth.

“I do think that perception is changing over time, thankfully” says Dr Tideman. “For medical staff, for anybody at the front line, saving your life is a priority. There is not a consideration made about whether someone is a potential donor unless they are dead. It’s a fear, a lack of trust in the health system, that propels that myth, but the public need to understand that doctors, nurse, we all try our absolute hardest to save the person’s life in front of us.

“Having said that, organ and tissue donation is a very serious and big decision. It’s a conversation that needs to be had. If a family knows that their loved one has registered an intent for their organs, or they’ve had a conversation about it, then families have a more straightforward time in terms of supporting a decision for organ donation. Talk to friends, family, experts, read the website, make your decision, discuss it with your family, and convert your wish onto the organ donations register. It’s really important that people do have the discussion.”

“Have the conversation with your family,” agrees Jon. “Let them know what you want, and at the very least it will lessen their decision making during that time.

“Ethan didn’t pass away to donate his organs, he was already going to pass away. But this way, he could give life to others. We know that both his kidneys and his heart valves were used. It’s very humbling to know that.”