Lucy OwenReporter, Inside The World of Body Donors
Lucy Owen
Mum and I are super close, so when she told me she wanted to donate her body to education I wanted to know more about why
Talking about death with your parents is a conversation everyone dreads, but my mum Patsy wanted that chat with me – and learning what she wants to happen to her body after she’s gone came as a shock.
Even in the darkest hours when she had bowel cancer a few years ago, I tried to avoid thinking about what it would mean to actually lose mum.
But, at 86, she sat me down to tell me she wants to donate her body to medical science after she dies.
Mum is certain she wants to be one of the 1,300 UK people every year whose bodies are donated to education as she feels without donors, the doctors of tomorrow won’t get the experience they need.
When mum told me she’d been already in touch with a university and everything was arranged, I was torn between admiration and confusion.
If I’m honest, body donation just wasn’t on my radar and I had loads of questions running around in my head.
How would her body be used? Would we be able to have a funeral?
But Patsy Cohen is nothing if not determined and pragmatic.
“I imagine a great big saw will come out and they’ll chop off a leg, but I don’t really mind,” she told me in her own inimitable way.
Here’s a picture of my son Gabs, mum and me and I can tell you mum is still living life to the full, whether it’s walking the dog or playing bridge and have a glass of wine with friends
Mum wants to donate her body to show her gratitude to medical professionals as they helped her when she had bowel cancer and needed surgery four years ago.
She wants to help the medics of the future and told me: “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them, so this is a simple way to give back.”
As a journalist and inquisitive daughter, I naturally wanted to find out for myself more about what mum was planning to do.
So I made a documentary at a university that teaches using real human bodies – and the one where mum will go.
Our cameras were given rare access behind the scenes at Cardiff University to see what happens to our donated bodies.
We saw how students “developed a connection” with their donors and their relationship with the families left behind.
The anatomy centre is where medical students learn from real bodies rather than from textbooks in lecture theatres.
“There really is no substitute for being able to see, touch and feel real anatomy,” said Dr Hannah Shaw, who leads the a
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