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Reporter who lost journalist father at 13 backs ‘opt out’ organ donor plan

Jessica FKA regional daily reporter whose journalist father died while awaiting a liver transplant has called for a law change which would mean people need to “opt out” if they do not which to be organ donors.

Eastern Daily Press journalist Jessica Frank-Keyes, left, lost her father John, a high-functioning alcoholic, when she was 13-years-old.

Former Westminster lobby correspondent and business writer John, 50, was just a week away from being placed on waiting list for a new liver when he died.

Now Jessica, 22, has now backed a move which would see organ donation become an opt out system and opened up on how her personal experience has affected her view.

She told the EDP: “My dad was a journalist, a good cook and loved telling terrible jokes. He was also what’s known as a high-functioning alcoholic which means that you’re regularly drinking too much and your body is dependent on it, but it doesn’t interfere, or doesn’t interfere a lot, with your ability to live a normal life.

“It’s very, very difficult to empathise with an alcoholic, and that’s something I’ve really struggled with. I always felt in some way that because it was something self-inflicted, unlike a brain tumour or a car accident, that we all somehow deserved less sympathy for losing him.

“This is partly because of something we were told by doctors when he was sick – that the liver is the only organ in the body which can regrow itself after being damaged. But unfortunately, despite being diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, he continued to drink past the point where regrowth would have been possible. That’s how he almost ended up on the transplant list.

“The lucky thing is that the NHS doesn’t deal in the same feelings of guilt or shame about illnesses like alcoholism that you, as the person’s family, feel – if you’re sick they treat you, no questions asked, which is something we’re all incredibly fortunate to benefit from. My dad needed a liver and they were fully prepared to give him one – after he proved he could spent six months without drinking.”

John was just a week away from the six-month limit when he died after catching an infection in hospital.

Jessica said she would “never” blame her father’s death on a lack of organ donors, but added: “Organ donation is an issue that I think is really important to raise awareness of. I don’t think enough people understand the difference they can make simply by being on the organ donation list, or how easy it is to sign up.

“I have had an organ donor card since as soon as I was old enough to apply for one, and I take it everywhere with me. You don’t actually have to carry the card with you though, as the NHS do have a register.

“But it’s symbolic of its importance to me. I would 100pc support an opt out donor register. Just thinking of all the lives that could be saved, it just makes so much sense.”

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  • August 1, 2018 at 1:56 pm
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    I have sympathy for the mixed feelings Jessica has and I also support the idea of opt out.

    The trouble with making judgements and only treating those who do not smoke, do not drink and are not overweight is knowing where to stop. Do we refuse to mend limbs of those who do extreme sports, do dentists refuse to treat people who eat sweets?

    However I did take issue with a person I knew who was back and forth to the respiratory clinic because ‘they couldn’t find out what was wrong’ and she was a smoker…that seems daft to me and a waste of funds. I would have thought she could have worked that out for herself.

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