Donor Family Network

In March of 1994 I was a Police Officer in the West Midlands serving on the Drug Squad but I was also involved in the shipping of aid to countries in crisis. I received a telephone call from a lady with a northern accent who introduced herself as Heather Mills. I hadn’t a clue who she was, but for twenty minutes I listened to a very passionate, enthusiastic person who wanted to change the lives of many people.

She had this idea of collecting unused prosthetic limbs, having them stripped down, serviced, taken to Croatia and Bosnia together with the equipment to make limbs and then to have them fitted to amputees. After listening to Heather I offered her all the assistance we could give, plus I said we would deliver the aid for her into the former Yugoslavia. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

Six months later, many thousands of limbs collected, hundreds of walking aids, complete physiotherapy unit, hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of donated equipment and aid were all collected and ready to be loaded.

My one original telephone call had now turned into hundreds of calls, coordinating many people, sorting, acquiring, collecting, arranging transport, drivers, ferries etc. The rest is really history.

October 29th 1994 four drivers and two articulated vehicles full of the much needed items set off for Croatia to meet Heather in Zagreb. Heather had worked tirelessly to set up the trip over the months, developing contacts, persuading medical experts to ‘come on board’, acquiring items that no-one else could, having had thousands of limbs stripped down in British prisons and serviced and packed for re-assembling.

After an eventful journey the vehicles arrived in Zagreb and I met Heather for the first time. Within hours the vehicles were unloaded and the first person to benefit was a Bosnian man who was trying to help unload but he had lost his leg in a landmine explosion. His crutches were two pieces of reinforced metal. They were immediately replaced by a new set of proper adjustable crutches. His smile as he received the crutches and to be able to have some mobility was heart warming. To him, his Christmas had come early. The next person to benefit was an eight year old girl called Martina who had lost a leg, again in a landmine incident. Heather had arranged for her to have a new prosthetic limb fitted and a new much better life started from that day. So much good came out of an idea that turned into a life changing experience for so many.

I am proud to say that Heather, myself and my wife, Jane have become good friends. We have seen many acts of her kindness which have helped and changed peoples’ lives. We have continued to help Heather in her charity work and hope to do so for many years to come.

When Heather went to India after the devastating earthquake some years ago she flew in and out, but after visiting the local children’s hospital she also returned with an outdated, obsolete and broken piece of hospital equipment. Heather was determined it would be replaced. After many phone calls and finding out the manufacturing company had been bought out many years before, the equipment was identified as being a syringe drive. A company was persuaded to donate not one but six new syringe drives together with the spare batteries, harnesses, a maintenance contract and delivery to the hospital.

I could go on but perhaps the most telling aspect relating to Heather is from a personal point of view. In November 1996 my wife Jane and I sadly lost our daughter Rebecca, she was killed in a car accident in America. As soon as Heather knew, she was straight on the phone and wanted to help us in any way she could, she would have flown us to America at her expense if needed. All Heather wanted was to help us.

Rebecca became a multi-tissue donor in America and helped enhance the lives of at least seventy four people. As a result of our involvement with organ / tissue donation we together with other donor families set up the Donor Family Network and thankfully Heather agreed to be a patron to the charity. Heather has been brilliant, taking her responsibilities as a patron very seriously. For example she approached the ex lead singer of the group ‘Men at Work’, Colin Hay and he allowed a song he had written, "My Brilliant Feat" to be released as a download with all proceeds going to our charity. Heather conducted twenty four interviews in one day promoting the download and as a result it went to No.1 on iTunes and was in the top 10 in nine countries. Several thousand pounds went into the charity. She attended the first National Gathering of Donor Families and made time to meet with every donor family. She helps at every opportunity and has given generously of her own finances. She does not seek or court publicity for her work with the Network and we shall be forever grateful to her for everything she does for us.

David Nix MBE
Chairman Donor Family Network
www.donorfamilynetwork.co.uk

Tribute to George Best

When George Best very sadly passed away, Heather was with one of her favourite artists and good friend Colin Hay. In conversation it was discovered that Colin had written a lovely song about his admiration for arguably the most gifted football player this world has ever seen. Colin agreed that it would be a great idea to re-release the song as a tribute to George Best, who had himself received a liver transplant, and donate the proceeds to the Donor Family Network charity. ‘My Brilliant Feat’ was released with an accompanying video of George at his brilliant dazzling best and the song was a resounding hit, reaching number 1 just before Christmas on the iTunes download chart and the top ten in nine countries.