Christina's Story - Donor

Why we should talk about our wishes

May the 27th was a wonderful sunny warm day; it was the May bank holiday so we were all in the holiday spirit.

My husband, Ray, and I went shopping and the children stayed in – the boys were cleaning their bikes and our 16 year old daughter, Christine, was waiting for Colin, her soldier boyfriend, to visit.

When we got back from town Christine said she and Colin were going up the field to talk, as her brothers were too noisy, and she wanted to sunbathe. I agreed, and said I would send one of the boys up with their lunch so they could all have a picnic.
She hesitated and said she ought to change but I said “you look wonderful and you are so lovely as you are” and we had a cuddle and off she ran so happy. She did look lovely in her blue jumper her Nan had knitted for her.

The fish and chip van arrived and my sons bought their lunch and off they went to meet up with Christina and Colin

I do not know if Chris would have wanted this as we never discussed the issue we never thought our children would die before us

Ray and I were sitting on the settee having a cup of coffee when Terry ran in saying, “mum they have found a body in the field.”
“Don’t be silly” I said but then Tony came in with a man.
”What have you done now” I said thinking that the boys had rowed with the man’s son and he was going to complain.
“Mum this is a policeman.,” said Tony.
“Hello. Have you a daughter” he said – “yes “ I replied, “well we have found someone in the field” he continued.
From then on my life was in a dream or a nightmare really. I even noticed that there was a bit of rubbish on the floor and picked it up. I have never worked out why I did that.

I was told that the girl and the boy she was with had been taken to Hospital.
I knew it was Chris and her boyfriend and that they must have head injuries.
We were told to wait, as they had not identified who they were.
The policeman also told us they were looking for a man with an axe, as the injuries were so bad.

After the policeman went we couldn’t wait any longer and so my husband and I travelled up to the hospital in London in silence. We walked to the ward and met a nurse who had a pile of clothes in her hand
Do you recognise these “yes, that’s the blue jumper her Nan had knitted her, yes they are our daughter’s clothes? We were told she was in the operating theatre and we had to wait. My mind was numb. I couldn’t speak and then when she came and I looked hoping it wasn’t our daughter not our Christina, but it was.

The doctor came to speak to us and said she had lost a third of her brain and was in a deep coma. They had operated but the brain might swell and stop her breathing.
I went and sat by her bed and all the tubes were in her mouth as she was on a ventilator.

How did this happen – I thought?
All I could do was stroke her feet as I could see she had other injuries on her body and I didn’t want to hurt her, she had been hurt enough.
We sat in the visitor’s room. I was wearing a fur coat even though the temperature was very warm in the sun I felt so cold.
We stayed all night. The following day the doctor said that she may recover but confined to a wheel chair. We had hope that she might be ok, but this turned out to be false hope.

A policeman told us that a young boy had walked into the station and confessed to riding his motorbike over them. (It was later found he had tried to jump over them by doing a wheelie and crashed onto them and a wheel nut on the front forks had caused the damage to Chris’s front left lobe. He had also been showing off all day scaring children riding around and skidding into them).

When we got home the reporters started arriving. They were all kind so we talked to them. Ray even did an interview for the local radio. We waited around like zombies doing what anybody told us to do.

But the days went by 1 then 2 then 3. A nurse asked us if we would donate her kidneys “no” I screamed “she isn’t going to die”.
On the 5th day the 31st May she was diagnosed as brain dead. Our beautiful daughter had died and I agreed that they could have her kidneys.
I do not know if Chris would have wanted this as we never discussed the issue we never thought our children would die before us.

We had to wait 5 hours while the transplant team flew down by helicopter. All that time it seemed Chris was alive as they kept the ventilator going to circulate the blood to the organs. Then, with our permission, the machines were turned off and Chris did not breathe again. We went home numb to face the future without Christina.

Two women were given Christina’s Kidneys.
One woman on dialysis was a single mum with 2 children and she was able to go back to work after a short time
The second woman rejected the kidney after a short time.

By Mavis Nye