1 week Ago By [email protected] (Deborah Hall)
A University of Hull student whose sudden death at the age of 19 went on to save three lives has been posthumously awarded the St John's Cross. Harry Purchase was in his second year of studying social work when he collapsed and later died at Castle Hill Hospital. It later transpired that a cold virus had travelled to his heart causing cardiomyopathy, a condition that affects the heart's ability to pump blood around the body, leading to a cardiac arrest and Harry suffered a catastrophic brain injury as a result.
His kidneys each went to a man and a woman in their 20s and his liver to a man in his 50s. Now, Harry has been recognised for his “selfless contribution of adding life and giving hope to others from the gift of organ donation”. An award was presented to him posthumously by the Order of St John and granted by the Duke of Gloucester, who is the Grand Prior of the Order.
Harry’s mum, Felicity Kennedy, his aunt and his sister, travelled from the West Midlands to Normanby Hall, Scunthorpe, to collect the award. There they met some of the nurses who cared for Harry while he was at Castle Hill. Keep up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from Hull with our free newsletter Felicity said: ”They remembered Harry and his family as though it were yesterday.
It meant so much to us. “They talked about him and how he was the youngest patient and how special he was to them. He was the only organ donor on the ICU that year.
” Harry’s family decided to launch a charity in Harry’s name – Harry’s Promise – not long after his death to help support children and young people in social care. The charity’s website says: “Harry was training to be a social worker at the University of Hull where he quickly settled in and became a big character in the cohort. “He wanted to be the voice that vulnerable children and young people needed.
He created the ‘Harry’s Promise’ poem before he started his first social care placement in September 2023. “He did not realise how his love and kindness brought so much happiness and peace to those around him. He didn’t know just how amazing he was.
” Harry’s mum said by launching the charity it meant her son’s bid to make a difference through social work would continue on. “He is still going to graduate with his other student friends in June,” she said. “We’ve been invited to the graduation ceremony.
“With the charity we have a blueprint, it’s just in the West Midlands at the moment but we have bigger plans and it will be coming up to Hull. It’s like a second home for us. “When Harry chose to study in Hull, we came up and thought it was an amazing place.
We loved it.” Felicity said: “We had had this conversation quite a few years ago when I said to my children, I want to be an organ donor when anything happens to me, I’m signed up. Harry had signed up twice, via the form and when he got his photo driving licence – he was well and truly going to be an organ donor.
“He was amazing. He just lit up a room.” The Order of St John UK Award for Organ Donation honours the incredible gift donors and their families in the UK make by donating their organs to save and improve the lives of others.
It is awarded by invitation to families whose loved ones donated their organs, and honours the donor after their death. The award is open to people of all faiths or of no faith across the whole of the UK. It was first launched by the international humanitarian charity the Order of St John and NHS Blood and Transplant in 2013.
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