The ‘easy’ decision that gave purpose to an Adelaide woman’s death
In the midst of unimaginable heartbreak, an Adelaide woman was given the choice to grant a wish.
Adelaide woman Isobel Vlahiotis, 27, lost her sister Odetta Maxwell, then 25, in a car accident in February 2023.
Just five weeks earlier, Vlahiotis had given birth to her first child. Maxwell had moved to Port Wakefield to help their disabled parents and ease the pressure on her sister when the crash occurred.
“There’s nobody in the world besides my children that will love me as unconditionally as she did,” Vlahiotis says.
The sisters shared a deep bond through music and were constantly supporting one another.
When doctors told the family Maxwell was brain dead, they were also informed she was registered as an organ donor.
“We were given the choice to grant her wish,” Vlahiotis says.
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Although they had never had a formal conversation about organ donation, Maxwell had often joked that she wanted to donate her body to science rather than be buried and “eaten by worms”.
“The decision was easy because we knew that was the kind of person she was,” Vlahiotis says.
Maxwell donated her lungs and heart valves, helping save the lives of two strangers.
“It definitely gave purpose to such an horrific experience,” her sister says.
“A part of her body and herself is still out there helping and doing the same thing.”
Only eight per cent of Australians aged 16 to 24 are registered organ and tissue donors, compared with 35 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over nationally.
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About 1800 people remain on Australia’s transplant waiting list.
For paediatric donation specialist nurse Mel Short, these stories are often what guide families through the hardest decision of their lives.
When she meets parents whose children are dying, one of the first things she asks is for them to tell her about their child.
“These stories come to the forefront after they say yes,” Short says.
“Families tell me about how their child befriended another kid who was being bullied at school or how they were always helping other people.
“These kids were helping people while they were alive and this allows them to keep helping people.
“To say yes on the worst day of their life is so incredible. It’s such a selfless gift.”
She says families were often comforted by knowing their loved one could live on through someone else.
“I genuinely feel like I’m offering families this tiny little fairy dust of hope,” she says.
“They’re not dying to become organ donors. They’re dying. They get to become an organ donor.”
DonateLife Week runs from July 26 to August 2.
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