Johannesburg - Michael Bester, 13, never met the six people whose lives he changed forever.
Today, his kidneys, corneas, pancreas and liver have made their lives exponentially better, with two people receiving the gift of sight and four others given a second chance at a better quality of life.
The Benoni teenager died in a horrific accident on Friday and his family donated his organs after being told that doing so could save the lives of others.
Some of the recipients are an 11-year-old boy who got his kidneys, an elderly man from Cape Town who received his pancreas and two young children who received his corneas.
Michael’s heartbroken mother, Sheila Erasmus, said although she lost her child, the fact that his death had not been in vain – as evident by the number of people who benefited from his organs – was helping her deal with the loss.
“My son was so pure-hearted, and I feel that I did a brave thing by making the decision to donate his organs. I am able to better cope with what happened knowing that his organs are living in someone’s body,” the 30-year-old mom said.
Michael was a pupil at Belvedere School, an institution for mildly and moderately mentally handicapped children in Benoni.
On Thursday, he was returning from rugby practice and cycling home as usual. It is alleged that a driver swerved to avoid crashing into Michael. But another motorist in a Toyota Fortuner wasn’t able to avoid him and struck the teenager.
Michael was rushed to hospital, where he was declared brain dead and kept alive by machines.
“The neurosurgeon told us that if it were his child, he would switch off the machines because even if they were to operate on him, chances of him living were one in a thousand, but that it was our child and he won’t tell us what to do. I couldn’t believe that my baby boy was gone. He looked like an angel, like he was asleep,” Erasmus said.
undefinedThe family switched off the machines the following day.
“The doctor told my sister that Michael was a healthy child and I could donate his organs to save other lives, and I gave them permission to take everything except his heart. I did that because my child had a heart of gold and would never have hesitated helping other people. I believe that saving other people was his purpose,” she said.
Erasmus said that since her son’s death and the realisation of how many people need organs, she and her family – about 20 of them – have registered to be organ donors.
According to Samantha Nicholls, the executive director of the Organ Donor Foundation, there are about 150 000 registered donors in South Africa.
She said the number of people who registered as donors had increased over the years because of education and media exposure.
However, there were some people who weren’t open to donating organs, citing cultural and religious beliefs.
Nicholls said this was unfounded because most religions and culture supported organ donation.
At the moment, 4 300 people were on the transplant list for organs that could save their lives, and they normally wait many years before getting them. In South Africa, kidneys were in high demand, she said.
Nicholls added that even if a person was a registered donor, the family’s consent was still required before organs could be taken after the person had died.
“If you become an organ donor, it is important that you speak to your family, because consent is required. If the family refuse, the organs are not taken. The co-ordinators will not go against the family’s decision,” she pointed out.
For more information on organ donation, visit www.odf.org.za or call 0800 22 66 11.
Michael will be buried on Friday.
The Star