An Alberta woman wants to prevent other families from experiencing a situation like she did after discovering her father’s wish of donating his body to science would not be granted.
Connie Ewashko said in 2015 she and her father, Don Gray, decided they would donate their bodies to science when they passed away, so they went through the necessary steps to add their names to the provincial organ registry.
Last summer, her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and passing away on Dec. 26, 2016 at the age of 88. On the same day, while the family was grieving Gray’s passing, Ewashko said she received a call from someone at the hospital to inform her that her father’s body was rejected.
“That’s when our nightmare started. We then had to scramble and try to figure out what we’re going to do,” Ewashko said.
READ MORE: Organ and tissue donations rising but more needed: Alberta government
Ewashko said the news was a shock because there was no previous indication there was an issue with his donation registration.
After making phone calls and sending emails, the family found out Gray was rejected because he had mestastasized cancer.
“We were told that the form that we filled out in 2015 was no longer being used, that it had been revised, but we had not been informed of that,” Ewashko said.
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“I know that there’s many many people who have cancer. That will make it hard for a lot of people who want to donate,” Ewashko said “As long as you know that ahead of time, you won’t be as heartbroken as we were.”
Ewashko wishes she would have been notified that her father didn’t qualify before he passed away. Now she wants to help others avoid the same situation.
“Since then, we’ve found out there’s about 9,000 forms out there that people have signed, and we just don’t want anyone else to go through this.”
READ MORE: Alberta takes step towards electronic organ, tissue donation system
Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said she was devastated when she heard about the family’s situation.
“You always want to honour the dying wishes of those you love, and knowing that there was some complications, my heart couldn’t feel worse for that family because obviously when there is an untimely death you want everything to be done to possibly improve odds for those in the future.”
Hoffman said the government is taking steps to make sure a similar situation doesn’t happen to another family, including clarifying the form.
“In addition to signing up, if you want your whole body to be used for science, there is a process about reaching out to U of A or U of C so that they’re prepared and aware that that donation will be coming,” Hoffman said.
“We’ve tried to make that very clear so that this doesn’t happen to any other family because of course when you have a dying wish you want it honoured.”
Ewashko said the family looked into organ and tissue donations, but were also denied because he was older than the maximum age allowed.
They decided to cremate their father.
Anyone who filled out a form for whole body donation through an Alberta registry needs to call the University of Alberta or University of Calgary to find out if their body qualifies for donation.
According to the University of Calgary, some of the factors that could cause a rejection include deterioration, certain diseases, and whether the university has the space to store cadavers.
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