Loved ones honoured for posthumous organ donation

A 16-year-old girl from Lichfield is among a group of people posthumously honoured for saving lives by donating their organs.

Sylvie Bates, who died after being hit by a van in 2023, donated organs including her heart, liver and pancreas, helping five people, said NHS Blood and Transplant.

Her mother Helen Bates was among those to accept the Order of St John Award for Organ Donation on behalf of a loved one, at a private ceremony in Birmingham.

Hollie Marie Mullett, 23, from Kingswinford and Jane Rolfe, 51, of Rubery, were also among those honoured.

"We felt proud to receive the award on behalf of our beautiful daughter and we hope the recipients of her organs are doing well," Ms Bates said.

She said "her worst nightmare happened" when her daughter lost her life suddenly following the road traffic collision.

Her daughter had expressed a wish to donate blood once she turned 17, and planned to go with her mother, already a donor, she said.

Sylvie has also donated eye tissue which has been saved until a match is found.

Hollie Marie Mullet's award was accepted by her family, who said it remained devastated by her loss.

She was rushed to hospital last year and it was found she had suffered a bleed on her brain from which she would not recover.

Her father Richard said she had agreed to join the organ donor register "which at such a young age just shows what a thoughtful person she was".

The donation of her kidneys, heart and lungs helped at least three people, he said, adding her pancreas was donated to a research programme for diabetes which could help hundreds of others in the future.

He said his daughter was a "kind, caring and loving young lady" who loved animals.

"She never knew" she had passed her qualifications to become a veterinary nurse, he added.

Sam Long, who accepted the award on behalf of his sister Jane Rolfe, said she been "painstaking in her care" of her mother and mother-in-law who both died in 2003.

He said through her organ donation, she helped five people and she also donated eye tissue which the family had been informed had helped two women in their 80s.

Mr Long added receiving the award was "emotionally very hard" but it had been good to meet people in similar situations.

Hundreds of families receive the award across the UK each year, at regional ceremonies or by post, said organisers.

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