Family's plea to think of organ donation

AFTER the devastating loss of a husband and father of four, a South West family was comforted to know his organs would go on to save four other people from life-threatening illnesses.

The Openshaw family from Stratham lost 49-year-old orthopaedic surgeon Neill Openshaw after he collapsed suffering a massive cerebral haemorrhage on New Year's Eve 2013.

Mr Openshaw was flown to Perth and put on life support at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital to give him every chance of survival but died the next day.

His lungs, kidneys and liver were all donated at the wishes of his family.

Little more than one year later, the Openshaw family and Donate Life are urging families to talk about the options of organ donation.

Anthea Openshaw, now a widow raising four children aged between 11 and 20 years, said that even if you lived in regional areas, you still had the option to donate.

"For Neill it was a no-brainer to be an organ donor - he was a very pragmatic man and thought it was ridiculous that you would waste perfectly good organs," Mrs Openshaw said.

"It is important to talk to your family as they are the ones that do it and need to know what your wishes were."

Donate Life figures revealed only three people in regional WA successfully donated between 2013 and 2014, including Mr Openshaw.

The other two donations during this period came from donors in Albany and Port Hedland, who were both transferred to Perth for the retrieval process.

WA Country Health Service South West director Grace Ley said the Bunbury Regional Hospital was not set up to undertake donation or organ retrieval, however arrangements could be made to transfer patients to Perth.

"There are many issues to consider in regard to providing organ and tissue donations, which include access to specialised organ retrieval surgeons, specialised diagnostic and assessment procedure and pathology services, as well as specialised organ donation counselling services," Mrs Ley said.

Mrs Openshaw said although they could not have direct contact with the person who received the organs, they were still informed of the patient's progress through Donate Life.

"It is lovely getting feedback and we just love knowing they are doing well and enjoying their lives again," she said.