From a horror car crash near Crookwell came the most beautiful story of hope
Jennifer Arnold has three words to describe her late fiance, Stephen Jackson.
“He. Was. Amazing,” Jenn says.
“Stephen was an adventurer at heart and being in his presence was thrilling.
“He had an incredibly positive and pragmatic outlook on life, wanting to squeeze every opportunity that he could, and always trying to turn a grim situation around to be an experience to learn from, to benefit from, or at the very least, to get a great story out of.”
Stephen was a runner, having completed over 70 marathons (including the Boston Marathon), countless half marathons as well as many ultra marathons. He’d run 46 consecutive City2Surf races.
He was an adventurer; and when his life was cut short earlier this year, his family and friends were in deep shock. Stephen and Jenn were driving home to Bathurst from Canberra in February after volunteering at the Australian 100km road race (running) championships in the ACT.
“We had a single vehicle accident about half way home, hitting a tree at 100km/h,” Jenn says.
“Stephen didn’t regain consciousness and was rushed to The Canberra Hospital with significant brain injuries.”
Somehow, during the horror of the accident, Jenn had the presence of mind to reach over to Stephen, who was unconscious, and lift his slumped head up to free his airway.
It was this simple act that kept oxygen flowing throughout Stephen’s body, and meant the family had the option of donating his organs and tissue when doctors made it clear the day after the accident that Stephen would not survive his brain injuries.
“Stephen was 22 years older than me so it was not lost on us that he would likely die first,” Jenn says.
“He was also an adventurer and liked pushing the limits of his body. We’d talked about him and I wanting to be organ donors many times over the years. He wasn’t religious, so for him there was no sense of needing his organs in the next life like some people feel.
“Because of these conversations, I was very comfortable about our decision for Stephen to become a donor. Stephen’s eldest son, Chris, and I spoke together about this and both knew that it was an easy decision for us.”
Stephen’s liver and both kidneys were donated, and although his heart and lungs were also eligible for donation, there was no-one was on the recipient registry at the time with his blood type.
“Initially I felt disappointed that no-one received Stephen’s very large and kind heart,” Jenn says.
“But I quickly came to be ok with it, his heart was one of a kind after all.”
It’s DonateLife Week this week and Jenn wants people to talk to their family members about organ and tissue donation, as well as join the Australian Organ Donor Register.
If she could send a note to Stephen’s recipients: “I’d love them to know that Stephen would now be cheering them on,” Jenn says.
“He’d be encouraging them to heal and recover and take advantage of every opportunity they have.
“They’ll know, I’m sure, as well as any of us, of the fragility of life. People say ‘you only get one life’, but organ recipients are part of the lucky few who get gifted another life.
“They have the chance again to live every moment of it and I hope they feel that Stephen is in their corner.”
Join the Australian Organ Donor Register here.
About the Author: Bree Element
Part bogan, part wannabe plus-size model and part journalist, Bree's the woman behind Q! News. She's a pop culture obsessive who's deeply in love with her hometown, Queanbeyan, and the neighbouring capital. A born storyteller, she's been writing locally, nationally and internationally for more than 25 years.
