Monica Shields reminds all in her time of grieving of the importance of ‘being kind’ to one another
A LISNASKEA woman has paid tribute to her late husband for giving the “gift of life” to others through organ donation, and reminded us all on the importance of “being kind” to one another.
Tim Shields (47) who passed away suddenly at his home on July 1, was a devoted husband to Monica and loving father to Madeleine (13) and Ben (10).
“When this type of tragedy hits a family, we could of easily fallen into the black abyss only for the outstanding support that we received from the ICU and transplant teams at SWAH,” explained Monica.
“As a family we were able to press the pause button, have our final moments with him and say goodbye in a way that we will cherish for the rest of our lives.
“I hope that people never have to realise how wonderful the ICU team are, because you only fully understand the work they do when you’re going through it.
“There are people from the ICU and transplant teams that I know will be apart of my life and apart of Madeleine and Ben’s lives forever because of Tim.
“We are all concerned about the services in SWAH, but I thank God that we have these amazing people. The work they do is beyond belief and they just blew me away.
“His final gift was such a generous gift by donating his organs to others in need to help save and repair the lives of so many families.
“This act was everything that made Tim him. His generosity, empathy and constant thought for others. All he wanted to do was make other people happy. Our son Ben says that his daddy is a superhero.
“I can recall a conversation that I had with a member who was on Tim’s transplant team. She told me that her daughter had passed away, but that she finds joy in knowing that her daughter still sees the world everyday due to the life-changing impact of cornea transplants.”
Monica and Tim met each other while she was a dental student at Queen’s University, Belfast, and it was love at first sight for Monica who then asked Tim to marry her during a trip to Paris in 2004.
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