Jack's Gift

11 December 2008

The Drury boy's family decided to donate his organs after his recent death and now they want to encourage more people to think about becoming organ donors.

Jack started year 8 classes at Strathallan College this year and his family, friends, classmates and school staff planted a karaka tree in his memory on Monday.

He died as a result of a subdural haematoma, his dad Paul says.

"It was an arterial malformation in the brain - it was like a timebomb waiting to go off - so very sudden, it happened within minutes."

Jack was staying at a friend's place when the tragedy started to unfold.

"We got a call about 8.30 the following morning telling us that Jack had been sick, he'd complained of a headache, been sick, laid down and gone to sleep and they couldn't wake him up."

The Bebbingtons raced to be with their son and found ambulance officers trying to revive him. He was taken to Middlemore Hospital and then transferred to Starship Children's Hospital.

"They put him on life support for two days and they tried whatever they could to get the swelling down in the brain - it just didn't work."

Jack was a quiet boy who was keen on taekwondo, like his mum Jackie, and he was a good student. He was bright, loved learning and nature and was particularly fond of studying electricity.

He had talked with his family about organ donation because he wrote a school speech about the issue when he was at Ardmore School last year.

His mother typed up the speech for him and recalls their conversation.

"I said: "Just think if it was you that needed the transplant, would you want one from somebody else? If there was another child in the next room and you needed the transplant, would you take it"?

"He said: "Yes, yes I would". I said: "You have to be able to give as well as take" and we talked about it like that.

"When organ donation was mentioned very subtly I grabbed at the chance with both hands and said yes because I looked after that body for 12 years and it was a perfect, healthy, fantastic little body.

"To waste that, to me was a crime when there were so many families needing help. For me it was a gift to be able to give these people a chance at extra life, extra quality of life."

Mr Bebbington says the family is now trying to organise a concert or major event next year to raise awareness about organ donation.

"For me it's trying to give some meaning to the fact that he went so young and so we came up with this idea of doing something to help the people at Organ Donation New Zealand.

"It's not a road accident, it's not a long illness, it just happened.

He was fine one minute and gone the next and we're trying to find some meaning to it all, and that's what all this is."

The key to it is awareness because there's such a critical shortage of donors in New Zealand and it can make a huge difference.

"The challenge is to make people aware of the good that can be done and then maybe you'll get fewer people resisting or saying no."

by John Harold - Papakura Courier