GIANTS Head of Women’s Football Bri Harvey knows all too well the importance of organ donation following a shock medical emergency that almost took her life.
In January, Bri was struggling with what she thought was an ongoing flu until her health took a drastic turn - leaving her life in the hands of strangers.
“I’d gotten a really severe fever and intense pain in my liver so I went to emergency where they gave me morphine and admitted me, but at first they didn’t know what was wrong,” Bri recalled.
“Then they did some scans and found a 13cm lesion in my liver which then bled a few days later, so they rushed me into surgery to stop some of the bleeding.”
In what became an intense waiting game, the 42-year-old was told a suitable liver donation was needed within around 48 hours for her to live.
“After surgery they transferred me from ‘Vinnie’s [St Vincent’s Hospital] to ‘RPA’ [Royal Prince Alfred Hospital] and then told me I’d need a new liver to survive.
“It was along the line of we need to find a new liver for you because that’s what’s required for you to make it through what’s happening to you at the moment,” she recalled the doctor’s message being.
“They said they were confident about the surgery itself, but it’s about waiting for an organ to become available.
“On one hand they gave me a sense of confidence they could get it, but the thing that was scary was the thought of what happens if a liver doesn’t become available, and it being totally out of my hands.”
Fortunately, good news was soon its way, despite a false alarm.
“I was told they found a suitable liver but on the way to surgery they then said the liver wasn’t viable anymore and I couldn’t get the transplant.
“Unfortunately ‘Cam’ [GIANTS AFLW coach Cameron Bernasconi] had all the girls on a zoom chat ready to let the players know they found a liver and that I was getting a transplant, so my sister had to call ‘Jase’ [GIANTS GM of Football Jason McCartney] to tell them it was off and it wasn’t happening.
“But luckily for me, the next morning a doctor came in and said they had found another liver they thought would be a match and then it all happened so fast,” she said.
“They told me that at 8am and by 9am I was in surgery having a liver transplant.”
After seven hours of life-saving surgery, followed by five more weeks in hospital, including a week in ICU, Harvey is still feeling the effects of her near-death experience, yet says she’s fully aware of just how lucky she is, and forever grateful to those that register as organ donors.
“Obviously having received a life-saving donation, I’ve been fortunate enough to see the benefits of organ donation as I wouldn’t be here if people didn’t donate their organs.
“It’s a really amazing thing for my donor and all donors and their families to do, and so I’m sure I speak for all of the organ receivers out there that we are just very grateful for people that do donate their organs.”
Bri shared her story in support of Donate Life week, an initiative aimed at encouraging Australian families to register and talk about organ and tissue donation.
1800 Australians are on the waiting list for an organ transplant at any one time, yet less than two per cent of people who die in hospital can become organ donors, making the need for increased donors all the more critical.
Up to seven lives can be saved by a single organ donor.
A key objective of Donate Life week is not only encouraging Australians to register as an organ donor, but educating the public that when a registered organ donor dies, any donation will only go ahead with the support of the deceased’s family.
Without the family’s approval, no donation can be made.
Bri emphasised the importance of sharing this message, having experienced the situation firsthand through a devastating family tragedy in her youth.
“I lost my brother Jonathon to a car accident when he was 20, I was 18 at the time, and we knew he wanted to be an organ donor and we’d had those conversations,” she said.
“It meant that when the time came and we had to turn off his life support and the nurses came to have the discussion around whether we’d be willing to donate his organs, we knew his wishes.
“That made it an easier thing to do, particularly when you’re in shock and grieving.
“That’s why Donate Life week is so important because it’s not only about getting people to register as organ donors, but also more important is having the conversations with your family, so they know the process and know that you’re wanting to be an organ donor.”
After hearing Bri’s story, several GIANTS players and staff have since registered to become organ donors, as well having the vital conversations with their families around their desire to donate.
GIANTS veteran Phil Davis is another with a strong passion for the cause following his own health struggles in 2014.
In a seemingly innocuous knee to the body from a Swans opponent, the former GIANTS’ skipper incredibly ruptured his kidney, forcing him to the ICU and the eventual removal of the organ, followed by three months on the sideline.
Visit https://www.donatelife.gov.au to register to become an organ donor, as well as to learn more about discussing organ donation with your loved ones.
