Donated organs of 13-year-old girl help record eight people to live
Parents of Jemima Layzell, who died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm, want other families to consider organ donation
Jemima Layzell had spoken about organ donation with her family a few weeks before she died.
Sarah Boseley Health editor
Friday 8 September 2017 01.00 EDT
A 13-year-old girl who died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm has had her organs transplanted to eight people - the largest number in the history of the organ donation service.
Jemima Layzell was “lovely – clever, funny, compassionate and creative”, said her mother, Sophy Layzell, 43, a drama teacher from Horton in Somerset. Just a couple of weeks before her sudden collapse in March 2012, the family had a conversation about organ donation because a family friend had died in a car crash.
“They were on the register but their organs couldn’t be donated because of the circumstances of their death,” said Sophy. “Jemima had never heard of organ donation before and found it a little bit unsettling, but totally understood the importance of it.”
Her parents found the decision hard, but are glad they made it. Jemima’s heart, small bowel, and pancreas were transplanted into three people. Two people received her kidneys. Her liver was split and transplanted into another two people, while her lungs were transplanted into one patient.
The eight recipients included five children, who came from all over England.
Jemima collapsed during the preparations for her mother’s 38th birthday party and died in hospital four days later. A brain aneurysm, rare in a child, is a swelling in an artery wall and there are no symptoms unless it ruptures. When it bursts, it causes a haemorrhage in the brain which can kill or cause lasting damage.
Her parents set up the Jemima Layzell Trust in her memory to help survivors. “If Jemima had survived, the ruptured aneurysm would have severely affected her communication and the right side of her body,” they say on the trust website.
Her parents went through clothes and possessions, looking for clues as to why she had died so young. They didn’t find them, but they did discover about 20 diaries and notebooks she had been keeping since she was four years old. These they have turned into a book, called The Draft, sales of which will raise funds for the charity.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/...people-to-live