‘Somebody died so I could live’

Two families from South Yorkshire have different experiences of organ donation. But both are steadfast in their support for Organ Donation Week (22-28 September).

Aged 39, Glen Taylor – then a professional jockey with a wife and two children – was told his kidneys were failing.

Doctors gave him just six months to live.

“You don’t really want to hear that, especially your kids and your wife didn’t want to hear that, but that’s the way it was, and we just had to get on with it. It was a very difficult, dark time,” he says.

In 2007, Mr Taylor, from Athersley, Barnsley, made it to the top of the European transplant list and received a new kidney and pancreas, saving his life.

“You can’t imagine what such dark places I went to, feeling so poorly, and then all of a sudden, it’s just gone. That’s the power of organ donation.”

However, 18 months ago, his pancreas failed again, and so he received a third organ through transplantation.

“On 26 May this year, they gave me a new pancreas. So that’s three different people’s organs I’ve got now keeping me alive.”

Today, Mr Taylor is back working full-time after swapping the saddle for a recovery truck seat.

“Life’s good again,” says Mr Taylor.

Mr Taylor carries on the legacies of the people whose organs he received and is a sportsman once again – representing Britain in squash at the World Transplant Games.

“I’ve won a couple of medals and it’s been amazing to travel all over the world with the organs,” he says.

“I’ve always taken part in sport. I had to give up the sport [racing] that I loved. The risk of falling off [the horse] wasn’t worth it. I couldn’t risk damaging the organs. Somebody so selfishly donated them organs and I just couldn’t risk it. Somebody died so I could live.”

In 2009, after his first series of operations, Mr Taylor was invited to meet the family of a 17-year-old girl whose organ he had received. She had died from meningitis.

“I travelled down to London to meet the family, which was very emotional. And I still keep in touch to this day,” he says.

“They were very welcoming. Her mum put her hand on my stomach and said I feel like my daughter’s here. In front of my wife and family, that just filled us up.”

Like the Taylors, the Atkins and Chapmans are also touched by the bittersweet nature of organ donation.

Josh Atkins, 17, from Stannington in Sheffield, died in November 2023 after the car he was a passenger in crashed.

He was taken to the city’s Northern General Hospital where his family made the decision to donate his organs. His heart, liver and kidneys have saved the lives of four people.

His aunt Claire Chapman was first at the hospital because Josh’s parents Tracy and Gavin Atkins were away on holiday.

Ms Chapman said she spoke to her nephew’s parents, Tracy and Gavin, who immediately agreed to organ donation.

“The way we look at it is that if we would accept an organ if we needed one, then we should also be prepared to give one,” she says.

“We later found out Josh had a conversation with his girlfriend’s family about organ donation, and that his attitude was that ‘they are no good to me when I am gone, so they might as well help someone else’, which was the sort of person he was.”

The family has been in communication with all four people who received Sheffield United fan Josh’s organs.

His heart went to a man in his 40s, his liver to a man in his 50s and his kidneys to a man and woman in their 20s.

“The heart transplant recipient wrote us a beautiful letter and let us know about a tribute he and his family had paid to Josh on the anniversary of the transplant,” says Ms Chapman.

“One of the kidney recipients had been on holiday to Turkey and Josh had never been abroad, so when we got that letter we were all saying ‘Josh has been abroad!’

“Although we will grieve Josh for the rest of our lives, the fact he has saved four lives is a positive that has come out of this tragedy and reading the letters it makes you realise what an amazing thing he’s done.

“We’ve lost Josh, and that has been devastating for our family, but we take huge comfort that his organs have helped others and that his heart is still beating.”