Up to eight lives have been spared as a result of the organ donation of a young teacher who was killed in a car accident on her way home from school before beginning her first teaching job. Her family consented to keep her alive so that her organs might be transplanted.
Beca Richards, age 23, traveled to the primary school in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, on August 20, 2017 to set up her classroom before the start of the new school year – her first as a teacher.
As she came home after completing her teaching certification, her Vauxhall Corsa collided head-on with a cement truck, and she was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Following the accident, Beca’s family took satisfaction in the fact that, as a donor, she would still be able to “give a better life for others as her ultimate gift.”
Beca’s mother, Eleri James, and her two brothers, Llion, 31, and Tegid, 28, have claimed that her organs saved the lives of strangers.
This includes a kidney donated to a young lady in her twenties, as well as her pancreas and another kidney, which were given to a mother aged 42.
In August of last year, Beca Richards, 23 years old, was murdered in a head-on collision with a cement truck. She had just received her teaching certification.
The headmistress assured her at the conclusion of the day, “Your classroom is great, you do not need to return before September begins,” Eleri, 42, said.
But Beca, being Beca, was unaware that schools do not offer writing supplies for students and that parents are responsible for supplying them.
“Beca, being the perfectionist and clearly worried about this, went to The Range in the morning to get 26 pencils, 26 rubbers, and 26 little pots,”
The mother, a registered nurse, said that she instructed her daughter to hold off on bringing in the equipment until the start of the semester.
But Beca said, “What if one of the youngsters forgets their pencil case on the first morning?” They’d be heartbroken and I don’t want it to occur.
Eleri also remembered the last time she talked with her daughter before to the deadly incident.
She said that Beca had contacted her from school at 4.30 p.m. to inform her that she was ready to depart, but she was suffering from a severe headache since she had not eaten or drink all day. Before departing, her mother instructed her to have some water.
Eleri continued:
An previous inquest heard that Beca’s vehicle came to rest in a grassy median, but that she had severe head injuries in the accident.
Paul Bennett, the coroner for Pembrokeshire, reached the judgment that the victim experienced severe injuries in a car accident.
Beca’s family is now raising awareness of the significance of organ donation after her passing.
In addition to donating organs to the mother and the young lady, Beca’s heart has been preserved for the benefit of up to four individuals, since the valves and tissue may be utilized.
Eleri said, ‘My boys and I wished that a young person might be rescued and that young children – since Beca loved assisting children – could have their mother back via her organs.
“As a family, we had to make a great number of choices. As a nurse, I’ve been with a number of families when they’ve had to make tough choices, but this time it was all about my kid.
“Over the years, I have healed tens of thousands of patients, but I was unable to heal my own daughter. That is the most difficult experience a mother or nurse can endure.
She continued, “Eleri’s kid was an amazing pleasure and my closest companion. I thrive on the fact that she has been a part of my life for 23 years.
Beca was just as kind after death as she had been in life. And to me, it is the greatest gift that can be given.’