In 1997, my younger sister died suddenly of a massive stroke at the age of 50, and as her twin sister and I were her only next of kin, we were asked by a doctor at Auckland City Hospital to consider donating her organs. He carefully detailed what this meant and we both realised that if anything positive could come from such an unexpected death, this would surely be it, so we signed the consent forms.

Organ Donation New Zealand (ODNZ) (Upfront, December 2) was amazing at keeping me informed. I received regular updates and was told exactly where many of the organs had gone, though of necessity the recipients were never revealed. However, I did receive letters from the anonymous recipient of my sister’s liver, forwarded by ODNZ. I was fascinated to learn she was a Sydney woman with two teenagers and had been told she hadn’t long to live when my sister’s liver became available. She was so incredibly grateful to be given a new chance of a healthy life and would eventually get to see her daughter marry and her son graduate from university, and maybe even see grandchildren one day. That was all 26 years ago and I often wonder if she is still thriving.

Don’t be afraid of organ donation. From my experience it most definitely is