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Wa 8 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, November 30, 1999 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" A daughter's lasting legacy of life Little Rachel Davidson's wish to donate her organs was granted by her parents By, Jeff Mitchell ort Perry Star This week, as December arrives and brings with it the festive holiday season, Peter Davidson confronts a tragic anniversary. Dec. 2 marks the passing of one year since the sud- den illness and death of his daughter, eight-year-old Rachel, a tiny sweetheart he remembers as "my little fishing buddy". You probably remember the story of Rachel, who lived in Brooklin with her mom Cheryl Parker. How the student from Meadowcrest P.S. fell ill with a virus, and within days passed away. And how her parents, Peter and Cheryl, made the painful decision to fulfill their little girl's wishes, made known just weeks earlier, and donated her vital organs for transplant. Rachel's heart was received by an eight-year-old girl, while her lungs went to a 13-year-old girl in need of her second transplant. A two-year-old blinded dur- ing an operation was the recipient of one of her corneas. The other went to an infant who was born ind. Four people -- one of whom, the girl who underwent the lung transplant, died last February -- were aided by the decision of Rachel's parents to donate those organs. Now Mr. Davidson wants, as a public service and as a fitting memorial to his daughter, to urge everyone he can to make the same decision, even in the face of tragedy. "It's a tough thing for people to decide on the spur of the moment, when most of us never think of it," said Mr. Davidson at his Scugog Island home Saturday morning. "But if they knew how happy it could make families, they'd never hesitate." Mr. Davidson said the cause of organ donation is hampered by a couple of factors, including the squea- mishness family members may feel when approached about organ harvesting, close on the heels of the loss of a loved one. It is crucial that organs be retrieved quick- ly after death and, despite the fact that a deceased per- son may have signed an organ donor card or some such Jociment, the decision is ultimately up to the next of in ~ He understands why people may reject the propos- al. "It's almost natural, when people lose someone, that they try to hold onto every bit of them that they can," he said. "It's hard to put on a practical face at that point and think about donating organs. "But I can't see anything negative about it. When people die, to be blunt, and you bury them, and those organs just disintegrate. Looking at it in a practical sense, if someone is gone and they can help someone else live, it's just amazing." It is an often-repeated message: There are so many adults and children awaiting transplants, and so few organs for them. Lives are lost and illnesses pro- longed, for the want of dona- tions. Most heart- wrenching are the cases involv- ing youngsters, said Mr. Davidson: "I couldn't fathom sitting at Sick Kids (hospital) and waiting for a heart, and watch- ing your child Peter Davidson with pictures of die. daughter Rachel and son " Shawn. Below, his 'little fishing It anappens buddy' more _often than . not. The problem isn't the procedure, it's getting the organs." Meanwhile, life goes on for those Rachel left behind. Following the initial numbness and shock came pain and loss which reverberates to this day, maybe more now than ever. This past weekend was traditionally the start of the Christmas season for little Rachel, who would take in the Santa Claus parade in Port Perry, and then join her mom and brother in trimming the tree and deco- rating the house. Mr. Davidson and his ex-wife aren't much in the festive spirit, but theyll carry on for the sake of Rachel's seven-year-old brother Shawn, and, to a degree, for themselves. Mr. Davidson, a real estate agent in the area who also fishes professionally in the summer, says it sometimes takes more resolve and energy than you think you can muster to carry on with day-to-day life after suffering such loss. And while nothing can detract from the profound pain of losing a child, there is comfort to be taken in Rachel's gift of life 'and sight to others, said Mr. Davidson. "I guess you can take some comfort and pride in the fact her heart is beating in someone else's body," he said. For more information on this issue, you can call the Multiple Organ Retrieval and Exchange (MORE) office at Toronto Hospital: (416) 340-3587. 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