Mum releases tragic last photo of her daughters kissing their sister goodbye before her body was taken for organ donation after ski accident
"I read stories about organ donation and I’m so happy that Kayleigh was able to help people. I’m really comforted by it. But sometimes, when I’m home alone, I sit and I cry and cry."
A BRAVE mum has shared her last picture of her eldest daughter, who donated her organs just hours after her death and saved three lives.
Kayleigh Harris, 23, died on April 1, 2016, due to injuries sustained when a skier slammed into her head after she fell while snowboarding in the French Alps.
Her mum Suzanne Harris, 45, was heartbroken by her daughter’s sudden death but immediately knew that her daughter would have wanted to donate her organs.
Kayleigh’s best friend, Liana Tolland, had battled organ failure and received a kidney donation in 2014 – but died a year later.
Suzanne, a nurse from Taunton, Somerset, said: “I read stories about organ donation and I’m so happy that Kayleigh was able to help people who were like Liana.
“I’m really comforted by it. But sometimes, when I’m home alone, I sit and I cry and cry.
“Still, I have to compose myself and be strong for my girls.”
The devastating accident happened on March 30 2016, when Kayleigh was working as a holiday rep in the French Alps.
Suzanne and her partner of eight years Anita Currie, also 45, were on a cruise in the Caribbean, when Kayleigh messaged saying she had banged her head.
Suzanne, who is also mum to Paige, 22, Lauren 21, Jaide 19, and Abbie, 17, recalled: “I had a message from her saying, ‘Fell over, someone skied into my head, wrote off my goggles, wrote off my helmet, and my head is killing’.
“That was the last ever message I ever received from her.”
The next day, when she had docked in Cozumel, Mexico, she received a heart-breaking phone call from Kayleigh’s boss in France, informing her that her daughter was being airlifted to the hospital, a two hour drive away from her ski lodge.
Distraught, Suzanne called her daughter Lauren, who phoned their dad, Sean Cummins, sister Paige and Kayleigh’s uncle – all of whom flew out to France.
Meanwhile, Suzanne and Anita embarked on a nightmare journey from Cozumel to Mexico City, enduring a 10 hour wait in the airport before flying first to Heathrow and then on to Geneva, Switzerland.
The worried pair then drove to Grenoble University Hospital.
Suzanne said: “During our 10 hour wait in Mexico City, my brother told me Kayleigh had no brain activity and had suffered a lack of oxygen to her brain.”
Suzanne made it to her eldest child’s side on April 2, only for doctors to tell her Kayleigh was being kept alive by machines.
Then they asked if she would donate her daughter’s organs.
The heartbroken mother explained: “In the morning they took me and her dad into the office and said she’s being kept alive by machines, because of organ donation.
“To me, there was no conversation needed, it was ‘where do I sign.”
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Suzanne knew her daughter was passionate about organ donation, because of her close friendship with Liana.
The pair had met at Yeovil Hospital, Somerset, in early 2011, when Kayleigh was diagnosed with an irregular heart rate that caused her to faint.
Liana, 22, became seriously ill after a reaction to malaria medicine on her gap year in Uganda in 2010.
Once her fainting spells resolved itself a year later, Kayleigh started working as a holiday rep in the French Alps during the winter and in the south of France in the summer.
But, sadly, Liana’s health continued to deteriorate and she needed a new kidney due to organ failure.
She received a new kidney in January 2014, but passed away a year later due to complications.
“Kayleigh took compassionate leave and sat in intensive care with Liana and her family during her last days,” Suzanne said.
“She found it difficult to come to terms with Liana’s death and became really passionate about organ donation. She wouldn’t talk to people who didn’t agree with it.
“She’d say, ‘What do you need your organs for when you’re gone?’”
After Liana’s death, Kayleigh had a design of a kidney with a moustache and Liana’s name tattooed on the inside of her arm.
And after her death, despite her grief, Suzanne knew donating her organs was what her daughter would have wanted.
She had one last photo taken of all of her daughters in the same room, before Kayleigh was taken away.
And she says knowing that her eldest child’s kidneys and liver were used to save the lives of three people, was a great comfort.
Suzanne added: “Kayleigh’s funeral was the best day ever, it was such a shame she wasn’t physically there.
“People from all over the world came in fancy dress. There were pink flamingos, men in pink tights and tutus, and one little Harry Potter.
“I still get messages from people from all over the world – Kayleigh had such a contagious personality.”
An inquest into Kayleigh’s death is open in France.
Suzanne is an advocate of livelifegivelife.org.uk