A mother whose teenage son saved the lives of five other people after he died in a road accident has given her backing to a Scottish organ donation teaching pack.
Lily Turley’s son Daryl was 13 when he passed away in 2009, and Lily and her husband Davy made the decision to donate Daryl’s organs.
Today Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon visited Daryl’s old school, Holy Cross High School in Hamilton, to meet some of his friends and to see teachers in action using the education pack.
Daryl suffered massive head injuries after being hit by a motorbike as he crossed a road near his home. The teenager, who was a fishing fanatic, was treated at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, but died.
Mrs Turley, from Hamilton, Lanarkshire, recalled begging medics to save her son.
She said: "The doctor sat us down and said: 'There's nothing we can do to save Daryl. He is on a ventilator. That is the only thing that is keeping him alive.' I remember feeling it in my knees. I was begging him, there must be something. But he said: 'There is nothing."'
After that, she said the family all agreed to allow Daryl's organs to be removed to help others "within minutes" of being asked about donation.
"Davy and I turned to each other and instantly agreed that we had to," she said.
"After all, reversing the roles, if someone had come to us at that moment and said there was an organ that could save Daryl, we would have jumped at the chance. As our hearts died, Daryl's gave life."
Mrs Turley said choosing to donate her son's heart, liver, kidney and bowel was a "difficult decision made easier by the excellent transplant liaison team".
The teaching pack on organ donation, which was launched in 2003 and updated in 2010, has proved so successful it is being re-launched and sent to every secondary school in Scotland from this week.
In a film that is included in it, Mrs Turley explains why she agreed for Daryl's organs to be donated. She said: "Anything I can do to help raise awareness I do. It is important people understand organ donation and can make their own, informed decisions about it, even from an early age. We need to speak about it more.
"It's the most devastating thing that could ever happen to a mum but when you are gone, you are gone, don't waste those organs when they could help others. I've never, ever, had second thoughts or regretted it."
To coincide with the pack's re-launch, specialist organ donation nurses will visit 100 schools to answer youngsters' questions.
Ms Sturgeon said: "No-one wants to think about their own death but it is important that young people throughout Scotland learn about the realities of organ donation.
"From the age of 12, they can decide for themselves whether they want to donate their organs in the event of their death. By raising awareness of donation and transplantation, dispelling the myths behind the medical science and discussing the ethics, we can ensure they are able to make an informed choice."
Since Daryl's death, Mrs Turley has found some comfort in meeting one of the people he helped save. Cara Hearst, 20, from Belfast, was seriously ill with Wilson's disease, which causes liver failure, and had just hours to live when she was given Daryl's liver.
In what is a Scottish first, she met Mrs Turley a year later after the two had started corresponding.
Mrs Turley said: "It's nice to see someone who was close to death blossom, she's got her whole life ahead of her now and that's the benefit of organ donation. Nothing can replace the void of losing Daryl but it has given me a positive purpose in my life again."
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