Frankie McCulloch is living proof that something wonderful can come out of tragedy. The 20-year-old mum is only alive thanks to a stranger’s decision to carry an organ donor card.
When she was a baby, her liver was packing up because of a rare disease. Time was running out but fate intervened when Lee Jones, a shy 22-year-old warehouse worker, decided to go on a rare night out. As he walked home a thug punched him for no reason. He banged his head on the pavement and died in hospital three days later.
Lee had carried a donor card since he was 16 so his parents honoured his wishes and his organs saved six lives. Frankie got half his liver – the other saving someone else in desperate need.
Now Frankie has told how she and her family have formed a strong friendship with the parents of the man who saved her life.
Lee was attacked by a thug when walking home after a night out. (WALES NEWS SERVICE)“I owe this man everything,” she says. “I know I am alive today and have had the joy of becoming a mother myself because of him.
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“Lee was only 22 when he died and I’m almost that age now. He lost his life so young, when he had so much to live for. I am determined to live my best life for both of us and make him and his family proud.”
Frankie was born with biliary atresia, meaning her bile ducts were undeveloped, causing irreversible liver damage. After Lee’s death in January 2005, she had a 10-hour liver transplant at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds aged 17 months.
A childhood photo of 17-month-old Frankie with her mum, Louise, recovering after her life-saving operation in 2005 (WALES NEWS SERVICE)As she recovered, her parents Wayne and Louise, from Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland, received a letter asking if they would like to meet the donor’s parents, Andy and Jackie, of Rhyl, North Wales.
“My parents really wanted to meet Lee’s mum and dad and thank them. Their precious son had saved my life,” Frankie says.
A few years after the transplant they met and the bond was instant. Frankie says: “Jackie and Andy are wonderful people. Whenever we see them it’s incredibly emotional and bittersweet. They had lost their child and because of that I was alive.
“They’ve watched me grow from a little girl into a woman and now a mother and I hope they are proud. Knowing that part of Lee lives on in me is a miracle. I am grateful for every day I’m alive.”
Frankie is a mum to Rhys, two – who has the middle name Lee – with partner Nathan Williams, 24. “Rhys has brought so much joy but he wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for Lee,” she says.
“Becoming a mother has been the most wonderful, joyous experience. There is no love like it. It’s made me more aware of the pain that Lee’s parents went through when he died.
“When I gave birth to Rhys I wanted Lee and his family to be part of it too. That’s why I named him Rhys Thomas Lee Williams. And I will tell my son all about what happened one day and how we are both here because of Lee.”
Louise, 52, a civil servant, says: “We will forever be grateful to Jackie and Andy for Frankie’s gift of life but we will never forget what they had to endure with their son.”
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Frankie is forever grateful to Lee's mum, Jackie for saving her life, especially at a time when they faced incredible loss with the death of their own son, Lee (North News & Pictures Ltd northnews.co.uk)Lee, who had a twin brother Dean, now 42, and an older brother Wayne, 50, never regained consciousness after the attack which fractured his skull.
Jamie Scott, then 17, admitted manslaughter and got three-and-a-half years in youth custody. Three months before killing Lee, he had been given a community order for punching a man in the face.
Remembering Lee, his mum, 63, says: “Andy and I brought up our three boys to be amazing, kind and caring and they never let us down. Our family was completely torn apart when Lee lost his life so tragically. As a little boy he was full of mischief and fun. He loved all sport, but football was his passion and he shone on the field.”
Jackie and Andy had no idea their son had signed the Organ Donor Register until medics told them. Andy, 63, recalls: “We had so many mixed emotions that day. We were sitting in a room with a transplant co-ordinator going through a list of body parts while Lee was lying in the next room on a life support machine. We had been told there was no chance at all of him recovering.
“We had to say yes or no to give our consent to a long list of things. Nothing can ever prepare you for that. It felt like a terrible dream. The coroner had to be contacted to confirm it was OK to go ahead with the organ donation, as without their approval the court case against Lee’s killer would have collapsed. It was all incredibly intense.”
Hearing that Lee’s liver had saved a baby gave the family a reason to keep going, according to Jackie. She says: “It seemed like a miracle. Our lives had practically stopped, now there was a reason to carry on. We kept thinking about this baby girl who had been given a chance to live, not by us but by Lee. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. We have stayed in touch with Louise and watched Frankie grow from a baby into a sweet little girl and finally into a beautiful young woman, now a mother herself.
“We’ve met on several occasions and it’s wonderful to see Frankie so healthy and happy and building a life with her boyfriend and their baby, Rhys. We think the world of them.”
Jackie said she had met her son’s killer and he had said he was sorry. She adds: “I told him to make the best of his life. I try not to focus on Lee’s death now as much as on the lives he has saved. I can’t explain the amazing feeling knowing that Lee’s legacy really is alive.”
It will be 20 years next year since Lee died and the family will hold a gathering in his memory. Organ donation has changed to a system where adults have to register to opt out in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Andy admits: “When organ donation was first mentioned to me as Lee was dying, I’m embarrassed to say that I was against it.
“Once I saw Lee’s card, with his own unique signature, I was ashamed because I realised these were his wishes. It wasn’t up to me. And it definitely eased the grieving process because we can see the difference Lee has made in the world. It’s weird, but our tragedy is someone else’s saviour.”
“We’ve watched Frankie grow into a beautiful young woman and she wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Lee. It’s wonderful for us to be keeping Lee’s name alive.”
For more information about organ donation, see organdonation.nhs.uk
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