Thatcham organ donation family become stars in Turkey

Pat Kingston, aged 59, who had been living in Turkey for the past four years, suffered a stroke and three blood clots just an hour after she flew home after visiting her family in Thatcham recently.
She was put on life-support and her family, including her husband Ken Kingston, aged 62, took the decision to turn off the machine several days later and agreed for her organs to be used to save other lives.
Organ donation is so rare in Turkey, especially from a foreign person, that the family found themselves at the centre of a media frenzy, with photographers waiting outside the hospital taking pictures, and interviews that made it on to the front pages of newspapers and the television news.
Mr Kingston said that he did not mind the attention but had no idea it would make such big news.
He said: “They treated her like royalty.
“I was walking down the street and Turkish people would stop me because they recognised me.
“They were touching their hearts. It had a major affect on some people because a foreign donated organ was going to their people.
“She will live on through other people.
She has saved three lives so far.
"Under the circumstances it was good news.”
Mrs Kingston’s daughters Tanya Endersby and Tracey Black were unable to travel to Turkey for her funeral but thanks to a TV company that broadcast it on its website, they
could watch it live over the internet.
Mrs Endersby said: “We take it for granted, but it’s a massive thing there. It was as though she was somebody like a special actress.”
Following the funeral, one Turkish newspaper reported that the life of 47-year-old Arif Kavas was saved after her received Mrs Kingston’s liver, and that when he was recovered he planned to visit the family to thank them.