Memorial service remembers donors

A memorial service for those who bequeathed their bodies to Leicester Medical School has taken place this week (21 August). 

The service in the University’s Sir Bob Burgess building, was attended by Dr Steven Jacques, Associate Professor and Head of Anatomy at the Medical School, Michelle Lawrence, Body Donation Programme Manager, Medical students, and donor families.

Dozens of people have donated their body in the past three years so that students studying the University of Leicester’s Medicine Degree and other healthcare related subjects can benefit from anatomical human dissection. All were remembered during the moving service. 

Speaking afterwards, Dr Jacques said: “This service is our way of giving thanks to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and chosen to donate their body to help Medical students in their studies. We’re extremely grateful to those who choose to do this. We know that any bereavement is a traumatic time for family members left behind, but we also know that fulfilling their loved ones’ last wishes of donation, can be extremely comforting too. 

“The service honours our donors and gives family members the chance to remember them and talk to students afterwards about the work that they do and the importance of dissection. It’s a privilege to meet donor families.”

Leicester is one of only a handful of Medical Schools to offer human dissection with donors kept for up to three years before a funeral service takes place, provided by the University. This year, Leicester Medical School is marking its 50th anniversary.

Michael Hollis was among those paying tribute to his mum who donated her body to the programme. He has also taken the decision to become a donor himself and said afterwards it had been an "emotional" service. 

 

Since its inception – some 1,702 people have donated their body, benefitting around 34,000 healthcare students across various departments.

Oliver Sweeney, 23, from Northamptonshire has just completed his fourth year studying Medicine and attended the memorial service. 

He said: “As a medical student at the forefront of any work we do in the dissecting room, is the donor who has provided this unique opportunity for us to learn. It’s a reminder of how fragile life can be. We look after our donors with a huge amount of respect, dignity and empathy. The hands-on experience of learning anatomy that they provide is a huge privilege and giving thanks directly to their families is something that I feel is very important.” 

Fellow medical student Lucy Easton, 22, who has also completed her fourth year, added: “Being able to explore a real human body at such a tangible level is vital to our studies. No text book, 3D or Virtual Reality model can compare when it comes to learning the intricate detail of anatomy. The respect and empathy applied to our donors are skills carried forward into our clinical practice, these values are just as important in death as they are in life. 

“I’ve been lucky enough, while on placement, to meet a living donor, and thank them in person for the arrangements they had already made with the university upon their death.”

To find out more about the Body Donation Programme at Leicester visit the website here.