Mahoney comforted by donation of wife's kidneys

the star

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: Knowing that his wife’s kidneys are now helping two Malaysians to live gives Anthony John Mahoney (pic) a measure of comfort following her sudden death.

Shelley Elizabeth Mahoney, 63, died in a boating accident on July 4, and her pair of kidneys were offered to two recipients after she entered into cardiac death.

“Knowing that the kidneys are healthy and doing fine does help me to get through the grief,” said Mahoney, 70, in a telephone interview from Penang yesterday.

“It was her wish for her organs to be donated. When you love someone, you want to fulfil his or her request.”

He expressed hope that Shelley had created wonderful things for Malaysia.

Mahoney said he hoped Shelley’s gesture would encourage more Malaysians to help each other by pledging to donate their organs.

Asked on why he proceeded to allow the harvesting of Shelley’s organs, he said: “Shelley is not going to come back. If there was any chance of recovery, we’d have fought for her to be kept alive.

“The machine was only keeping her alive for a while, and in Australia, it was accepted that when there was no more hope for a person, we could remove the life support.”

Mahoney said he was pleased that her kidneys were healthy as they led a healthy lifestyle and ate a lot of vegetables and fruits.

His immediate plan is to fly back to Queensland this Monday to bring Shelley’s belongings home, but he is unsure of where his next long distance trip would be.

He had been sailing with Shelley since 2006 to Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia on the yacht that he bought in Australia 40 years ago.

“I have lost my soulmate and I have to consider what to do with the yacht,” he said.

In a press conference earlier yesterday, Mahoney said that Shelley pledged herself to be an organ donor since her early 20s.

”Shelley believes in organ donation so that others have the opportunity to live.

“It is the final gift that you can give. The gift of life.”

Mahoney said that Shelley had three daughters and two sons, while he has a son.

“All the children are organ donors as well,” he said.