Organ recipient, 26, intends to 'give back' by helping others

I first came in contact with Tim Fretwell when he called me for information about a Trillium Gift of Life Network information session for volunteers. At the time he expressed a profound interest in "giving back" as a volunteer and I had the opportunity to meet him in person along with his family at the volunteer meeting. Tim's desire to promote organ donation awareness is typical of most transplant recipients I know, who are so grateful and thankful for being given a second chance at life.

The Record, Kitchener, Ontario
(Apr 13, 2007)
by Anne Kelly

There was a time that Tim Fretwell hated doctors, nurses and hospitals.

He would never have been willing to donate his organs.

Now, with a new pancreas and kidney giving him a fresh start in life, the Kitchener man has changed his tune.

At 26, he's planning to join the health care profession and become a respiratory therapist. He has also signed his organ donor card and is willing to pass on his eyes, bones skin and any usable organs after his death.

"You might not have a chance to help someone when you're alive, but you sure could have a chance to save a life when you're dead," Fretwell says in an interview at the home he shares with fiancé Mandy Gravel.

Diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at 15 months old, Fretwell has struggled through temporary blindness and was on kidney dialysis for 3 1/2 years.

"I would never wish what I've gone through in my life on anybody," he says.

But enduring countless tests and procedures sparked a fascination with the workings of the human body, especially the lungs.

He was full of questions about how diagnostic technology works.

"I've taken so much, it's time to give back," Fretwell says.

Read the full article.

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