Tan Jing Wen, 14

School: Zhonghua Secondary School

Topic: Letter of appreciation to donor family

Award: Distinction, Junior Category, 2021

Dear beloved family of the late Mrs Tan,

I am Tricia, the granddaughter of the recipient of the cornea donation. A year has passed since she received the cornea transplant, and it has made a big positive impact on her life. My family and I are filled with immense gratitude for the kindness bestowed upon us, but before anything else, we would like to express our heartfelt condolences for the loss of your loved one. Losing someone dear to you is a pain that I cannot imagine, and we sincerely hope that you are doing better now.

Truly, the donation has made such an unequivocal change to my family and grandmother’s life. I still can remember how much she had been hurting back then, despite not being old enough to understand what depression was. It was a dark period of time for the whole family; my grandmother would often refuse to step out of her room, and it seemed as if she had lost her desire to live. However, the offer of a cornea donation from your family had shone light on a different path—a more hopeful one—and ultimately, that was what had triggered a change in mindset as to how she could rest of her life.

Alongside that, there was a gradual shift in how she started to see the world, after the transplant turned out successful and her eyesight recovered fully. We started to see her come out of her room more often, and slowly, she started conversing with us again. She was even open to the suggestion of getting therapy unlike before. She is still going for sessions nowadays, but nevertheless her mental health has improved a lot since then. It has been heart-warming to see her recover well and open up to the people who care about her, and it made me realise how fortunate we are for the cornea donation that had changed her life for the better.

Besides the tremendous improvement in my grandmother’s life as a whole, it has also helped to strengthen our family ties and bring us all closer together. A recent bonding activity among our family is stitching, as both my grandmother and I were interested in picking up the hobby. Now, every once a week, the both of us would stitch things up together in the living room while sharing conversations about anything and everything. It is just a little part of my week, but it is the one that I look forward to most, for I get to grow closer with my grandmother and see that glimmer of happiness in her eyes again. For that, I would like to say a genuine thank you once more.

If you are agreeable, I hope to be able to share this success story of a cornea transplant recipient through organisations such as Live On. Not only do I hope that this story will help to inspire future donors and others who are in need of organ transplants, I also hope to share the act of generosity by the late Mrs Tan to further express my appreciation. I hope you will consider my suggestion, but I wholeheartedly respect your decision if you wish to keep it private. My family and I will always remember in our hearts all that you and the late Mrs Tan have done for us.

Above all, we are extremely grateful for the precious gift that your loved one so unselfishly gave, and we will forever cherish the new lease of life my grandmother is able to have.

Yours sincerely
Tricia

Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the essays for the Live On Festival 2021 are those of the participants and are not endorsed by the National Organ Transplant Unit (Ministry of Health).

To learn more about organ donation and organ transplantation in Singapore, please visit www.liveon.gov.sg