Megan Hilton wanted to care for sick children, and hoped to become a nurse at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
Megan Hilton, 17, was a kind soul who was always thinking of others(Image: Hilton family)
A 17-year-old girl who dreamed of becoming a paediatric nurse went on to save the lives of five strangers after dying suddenly. Megan Hilton was a “kind soul” who was “always thinking of others”, and was looking forward to starting university after finishing her health and social care studies at Hugh Baird College.
Tragically, she died on July 21, six days after suffering a brain aneurism “out of the blue”. Her dad David said: “Megan was a kind soul. She wanted to be a paediatric nurse, that was her masterplan. It was what she wanted. We actually went to Manchester University about three weeks ago to have a look around.
“Some of the universities around here don’t do paediatric nursing, but that’s what she wanted to do, caring for young children. She was such a caring person.
“She started driving lessons a couple of months ago and came up to me one day and said, ‘just so you know, I’ve ticked on my licence I want to donate my organs’. At the time I said ‘you’re speaking to the wrong person here, because I’ll be well gone by then. That’s something you need to tell your own children’.
“She donated blood as well, as soon as she turned 17, as soon as she could. That was Megan all over. She was always thinking of others.”
Megan was also an animal-lover who “doted on” her pet cat, Angel. She attended St Monica’s Catholic Primary School in Bootle and Maricourt Catholic High School in Maghull before going onto Hugh Baird.
David said: “She had a brain aneurism completely out of the blue. She went to bed on the Tuesday night (July 15). We let her have a bit of a lie in because she was off college. We went in and she had had some type of seizure.”
Megan was taken to Aintree Hospital, where tests revealed a bleed on the brain. She died on July 21, surrounded by her loving family.
Because of her organ donor status, Megan went on to save the lives of five other people, donating her heart, lungs, liver, pancreas and kidneys.
Megan went onto save the lives of others after donating her organs(Image: Hilton family)
David said: “The staff were amazing. You couldn’t ask for anything more. Even though they couldn’t save her, they treated her so well and gave her so much dignity.
“We spoke to someone in SNODs (Specialist Nurse in Organ Donation), and they brought up the subject of Megan being an organ donor. We had some questions ourselves because we didn’t want her to die on her own. That was one of our major decisions. Once they said we could be with her, we then went through the process because it was Megan’s wish.
“We thought if we could save other people, that’s something we would do. Everything was measured to the finest detail. We were fortunate enough that her organs were accepted.
“The redacted information you get only gives a little snippet – the gender, possibly the age, and how long they had been on the waiting list for. Some people might have been on it years. For all the heartbreak we have had, someone is going through the complete polar opposite of the scale, and have so much elation knowing they got that second chance at life through Megan being so generous.
“Megan was taken way too young. But the only small crumbs of comfort we can take from this horrendous situation is that Megan will help other people. She wanted to be a nurse; she was always so caring. It’s just Megan. She would have made an amazing nurse. But this is her legacy.”
Megan’s funeral will take place on August 14. Her family has asked that any donations on her behalf should be made to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, where the 17-year-old hoped to one day work as a nurse.
David said: “That’s where she wanted to spend her working days. So if there’s any kind people out there who wanted to donate, we would ask they make a donation to Alder Hey’s charity, and at least that way there’s going to be other people who benefit in some way from Megan’s kind spirit.”
Megan’s fundraiser for Alder Hey Children’s Charity can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/meganjayne-hilton-1