Local Estate Agent Receives Posthumous Organ Donor Award
Jordan Walker collapsed with undiagnosed heart condition while at the gym
A young man who had worked as an estate agent in Chiswick has received a posthumous honour as an organ donor.
Five people received organs and were given the gift of life, because Jordan Walker had signed up as a donor before his untimely death at the age of 24 last year. He had signed the organ register when he got his driving licence some years previously.
Jordan had worked as a sales negotiator with Barnard Marcus.
Jordan had appeared fit and well, and had once played youth football for QPR. He had gone to a gym in Acton on his way to work on June 2 last year but collapsed with a stroke. He had a second stroke in an ambulance and a third at Charing Cross Hospital. He never regained consciousness, and died the next day.
His father John, an audit manager at NHS Resolution, said: “It took a responsibility off our shoulders. The decision had been made.” The Jordan Walker Remembrance Fund has been set up to fundraise for stroke victims.
Mr Walker recently collected the Order of St John Award for organ donation on behalf of his son. His parents said: "Jordan has been able to help others live better lives; it's an incredible thing to do and we're all so proud of him".
A kidney and his pancreas went to a man in his forties. The other kidney went to another man in his forties. Jordan’s liver was split between a man in his sixties and a young girl. A woman in her fifties had a double lung transplant.
The Order of St John awards recognise the 1,574 people who donated organs after death in 2017/18, including 164 Londoners. After Jordan’s death his family discovered he had a non-cancerous tumour in his heart called an atrial myxoma. A blood clot formed around it and broke away to become lodged in his brain.
Mr Walker said: “We feel very proud to know Jordan has helped someone live a better life.”
He, Jordan’s mother Teresa and sister Ashley, 22, have signed up to the register. He said Jordan was a “sensitive and good lad, not loud, not brash”.
Anthony Clarkson, of NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “Donors and their families are heroes. This award recognises their bravery and generosity. There is still an urgent shortage of donors.”
October 21, 2018