Three organ donors from Sheffield honoured for saving lives in posthumous award ceremony

Dan Robinson, Joshua McCarthy and Celia Smith, who were all from Sheffield, received the Order of St John Award for Organ Donation.

The award, run in conjunction with NHS Blood and Transplant, was given to their families and loved ones on their behalf.

Dan’s mother Debbie said: “Dan was knocked down in a road traffic accident. He had catastrophic brain damage and was never going to survive.

“I wanted Dan to have the chance to do one last amazing thing and I know he’d have been 100 per cent behind that decision.

“It was wonderful to find out that Dan’s kind, big, beautiful heart had gone to a young boy under the age of 10. Dan was also able to donate his liver, both kidneys and his pancreas.”

Joshua’s mother Susan said: “We were told that Joshua wouldn't recover from his injuries sustained in a car accident.

“He had briefly mentioned that if anything was ever to happen to him that he would like to donate his organs so the decision had really already been made for us.”

Celia’s partner Tony Andrews said: “When I found out Celia was on the organ donor register it was a nice surprise.

“When I was told nothing further could be done to help her, organ donation became a positive thing to come out of losing her.

“The Order of St John awards ceremony was amazing. It was a sad and emotional event, but we had great support from the staff.”

From spring 2020, the law around organ and tissue donation in England is changing.

All adults in England will be considered as having agreed to donate their own organs when they die unless they record a decision not to donate or are in one of the excluded groups.

Those excluded will be people under 18 and people who have lived in England for less than 12 months or who are not living here voluntarily.

To get more information, and to join the Organ Donor Register now, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk.