In short:
Nigel Palk has spent 17 years supporting families during and after their loved ones have died and donated their organs.
A young Riverland woman got the gift of life thanks to an organ donor, and takes her gifted lungs on adventures.
What’s next?
Mr Palk says Australians need to make their wishes regarding organ and tissue donation clear to family and friends.
For many Australians, completing an online registration and ticking a box on their licence renewal is the most thought given to organ donation.
But for Nigel Palk, it is part of his day-to-day life.
His work as a donation specialist nursing coordinator connects him with intensive care units across Adelaide where he supports patients and their families.
Mr Palk has been part of the DonateLife SA team for 17 years and despite the emotionally difficult nature of the job, he has never looked back.
“I had a real interest in supporting families when their loved one was at the end of life, and organ donation was a big part of it,” he said.
“The majority of these cases … are sudden and catastrophic and it is really, really terrible for the family.
“It is hard, but it’s important that these families are supported and given the opportunity to make choices that are right for them.”
Support continues on
The support and grief counselling for families doesn’t end once their loved one has donated the gift of life.
“We send them letters to let them know how the recipients are going from their loved one’s donation,” Mr Palk said.
“We also follow up with phone calls just to see how they are … and sometimes families just want a shoulder to cry on and to say, ‘Life is pretty hard right now’.”
But family and friends offering simple gestures of help and support are important too.
“The big one that I hear from families time and time again is just knowing that people are there, and people are prepared to go the journey with them,” Mr Palk said.
“Just listen to what they have to say, be there and let them tell you they’re not feeling great.”
Have the conversation
According to DonateLife, just 2 per cent of people who die in Australian hospitals meet the criteria to be an organ donor.
Mr Palk believes it is important for Australians to have the conversation about their wishes, as family members often have the final say.
“We’re really trying to advocate for the patient and help that family make an enduring and really powerful decision at such an emotional time,” he said.
“God forbid it ever happens, but if something tragic does occur, those that are close to you can make that final wish a reality.
“For those families that have talked about it, that are registered, it is a comfort for them knowing what their loved one wanted.”
New breath of life
A 50-year-old Victorian woman, whose wishes to donate her organs were granted, saved Jess Ackland in 2014.
Ms Ackland was in the ICU with end stage cystic fibrosis when she was told the woman’s lungs were an available match.
“I don’t know much, but she had a husband and two kids … and she looked like she loved life a fair bit,” she said.
“I do know … that she wanted to continue on living and having adventures through the recipients of her organs.”
Ms Ackland, now 34 and living in the South Australian Riverland region, has done just that.
She climbed to the summit of Devil’s Peak in the Flinders Ranges in her first year after her transplant, competed, placed in the top three of multiple races in the 2018 Australian Transplant Games and now runs a small family business with her husband, Jason.
“Transplant has definitely made me see life and death differently,” she said.
“It’s not so scary anymore.
“Just going out and experiencing the world and having those opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
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