Service for organ donor families and transplant recipients this Sunday

An ecumenical service of remembrance and thanksgiving for organ donor families and transplant recipients, together with health staff, will be held at St Andrews Presbyterian Church Cooks Hill, this Sunday 21 October 2007.

Guest speakers at the service will be Anna Kubowicz whose mother was a donor and Gary Gilmour who has personal experience of transplantation.

Anna’s mother passed away at John Hunter Hospital.  She donated organs and six lives were saved through her generous donation. 

Gary ‘Gus’ Gilmour, the Australian swing bowler who famously took six for 14 against England in the 1975 World Cup semi-final, will speak about how a liver transplant saved his life.

The service will include a perennial tree ceremony.  There will be a bare tree on the altar and family members and recipients will be asked to select a coloured leaf and place a photo of the donor or write a message of thanks and hang it on the tree.  The tree with new leaves will symbolise the new beginning of life, thanks and memories of those people who have died.

Members of the community whose lives have been touched by organ donation are invited to attend.

Contact: Gemma Smith

Phone: 49214501 or 0402 793 426