Teen Tragedy. Our daughter saved 8 lives

30 June 2009Ayla Whitaker was a popular young woman who achieved highly in everything she set her mind to.

Before she died, she had just finished her Year 12 studies at Sacred Heart College in Lower Hutt. She had planned to study for a nursing degree and specialise in paediatrics.

Her father Gary says she was "like most teenagers, full of life, energy and dreams".

But her life was cut short at the tender age of 17 when she was hit by a car while riding her bike just 5km from her family home during training for Outward Bound.

Just months before Ayla was killed, she marked on her restricted driver's licence that she wanted to be an organ donor.

"She spoke to us about it and joked that if anything happened to her, they could use her organs and if they wanted her eyes, they would have to have her glasses as well because her eyesight was not too flash," says Gary.

The main reason behind Ayla's decision to be listed as an organ donor was the tragic loss of her cousin Cassie, who died of leukaemia three years prior to Ayla's death.

Before she died, Cassie was being considered for a bone marrow transplant and a donor from within the family was looking to be her best option.

Ayla was keen to be tested and was willing to go through the transplant process to aid Cassie. But before that even became a possibility, Cassie's health deteriorated and she died.

Following the crash, Ayla's family followed her wishes and put her organs up for donation.

"Esther and I thought about Ayla's wishes and knowing what a kind and caring person she is, we both just knew this was what Ayla would have wanted. If she could help save others, she would have wanted to do so.

"Ayla donated her liver (which was split into two), kidneys, heart, lungs, spleen, pancreas and eyes (corneas)."

The Whitaker family received details about each of the recipients before they finally wrote a letter to them.

"I told them a little bit about Ayla and who she was. We wanted them to know that we were thinking of them, and hoped and prayed that their recovery was going well," says Gary.

"When a family decides to donate a loved one's organs to a stranger, they impact the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals by giving them hope - that hope turns into a better life where parents meet their grandchildren, teenagers marry, and fathers get to walk their daughters down the aisle. How can that be a bad thing?"

Linda Shackelford - NZ Women's Day (NZ Edition)