Liu Kecan, 14

School: Raffles Institution (Secondary)

Topic: Do donor families find hope in organ donation?

Award: High Distinction, Junior Category, 2022

Donor families will have hope

You’ve just lost your brother. He was your closest friend, your only confidant. Gone. Disappeared into thin air due to the freak accident. The only thing left of him is the shards of memories that are growing increasingly faint. As you wallow in grief, the doctor comes up to you and your crestfallen family, explaining to you that your brother could be a good organ donor, especially since he was always in the pink of health. What will you do?

For me, I believe when one is afflicted by the devastating demise of their loved one, if possible, they should try and donate their (the deceased) organs. The reason? Hope.

Firstly, the act of organ donation, to me, gives meaning to the deceased’s loss. On the superficial level, a single donation seems to deal a negligible impact on the massive number of donor recipients, by causing the statistics to drop by a few digits. Yet, when we look deeper, we realise that behind each number lies a conscious, sapient person with his/her own family and close ones. When we donate, we are giving these unfortunate recipients another shot at the life they have been, because of their disease, sadly deprived of. We might even save their close ones from the excruciating and heartrending pain by preventing their untimely departure. To me, it gives purpose to the deceased’s death, as his/her death not just prevented the recipients and their family members from a cataclysmic, ominous fate that the deceased was struck with, but also drastically improved the recipients’ quality of life. They will feel that maybe their loved one’s death was not that bad after all since it benefitted many in society, thus providing them hope and optimism to better cope with the tragedy.

Additionally, the donation of the deceased’s organs will allow the deceased to remain in existence. Organs, to me, are like the fuel lighting up the sparkles of life. Although the sparkles in the deceased have gone out, the remaining fuel has not. As such, the fuel can be replanted in another person’s body, where the fuel is running out, to sustain them for longer. Hence, when the deceased’s organs are donated, parts of the deceased still live long after the deceased has died. The fact that the deceased is still concretely extant in the world of the living gives the family members not only the opportunity to appreciate his/her continual existence but also creates a more permanent memory of the deceased as a hero. When your uncle dies, if you donate, let’s say, his heart, it still continues to beat lively in someone else’s body, while also etching in your psyche that “My uncle is saving people from death!” This is in contrast to the other alternative, where the body is fully cremated to ash (or in some cases buried), and the only thing remaining is the small intangible shards of memory being slowly chipped away by the unrelenting waves of time.

Lastly, in confluence with how donating organs gives meaning to the deceased’s death, the act of donating also fulfills moral reasons. One body donated can save up to eight lives, which undoubtedly proves how organ donation fulfills important moral principles such as utilitarianism (by maximizing happiness) and altruism (by showing concern for the happiness of the organ recipients). I believe fulfilling such principles gives a sense of righteousness and justice, which provides a sense of comfort to the donor family, (as parallel to the sense of justice you feel when you report your classmate for cheating or various misdemeanors, maybe even more visceral.) Even at the ultimate end of his/her life, the donor family will remember that he/she still did something “right”, something “good”.

To end it off, organ donation, as contrived and surreal as it sounds, is the greatest gift. Not only for the fortunate recipient of the organ but also for the benevolent family willing to part way with the organs.

Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the essays for the Live On Festival 2022 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