Original version

BBC Radio Orkney

Brainwaves

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Pennie Latin_Brainwaves_Brand Level

Pennie Latin explores the science behind the everyday.

Pennie Latin explores the science behind our everyday experiences and speaks to key scientists working in Scotland.

BBC Radio Shetland

BBC Radio Scotland FM

BBC Radio Scotland Extra

BBC Radio Scotland Highlands and Islands

Brainwaves: Series 5

Brainwaves: Series 5: Episode 3: Child Tissue Donation

Pennie Latin_Sarah Gray_Joanne Mullarkey

Episode 3

Episode 3: Child Tissue Donation

Series 5

Child Tissue Donation

BBC Radio Scotland - Brainwaves, Series 5, Child Tissue Donation

Pennie Latin talks to Sarah Gray about donating her child's tissue to scientific research.

Pennie Latin discusses child tissue donation with mother Sarah Gray and Joanne Mullarkey of the University of Bradford.

Would you, could you or should you donate your body to science? That might be a hard enough question to answer but what about donating your children's tissue to research after their death. This is exactly the situation Sarah Gray and her husband found themselves in when one of their twins, Thomas, died.

Thomas, was born with anencephaly and died 6 days after birth. Sarah and her husband donated Thomas's tissues for scientific research. With time Sarah's desire to know what Thomas's tissue has been used for got the better of her. She went on an extraordinary journey to understand the full extent of Thomas's legacy, visiting the institutions which had received parts of his liver and eyes and tracing the scientific impact of his donation. 

Joanne Mullarky is a research nurse at the University of Bradford's Human Tissue Bank. When she heard Sarah's story she changed the way she worked and now today thinks that a stronger relationship between academic institutions and donor parents is vital to increasing the amount of tissue donated. Tissue that is currently rarely donated.

A Brainwaves special recorded in front a live audience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Honest, thought provoking and profoundly moving, Sarah's story of Thomas's donation will question the way we think about life after death and the extraordinary gift of giving a dead body to science.

BBC Radio Scotland

Pennie Latin explores the science behind everyday experiences.

Pennie Latin explores the science behind everyday experiences and speaks to key scientists working in Scotland.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Brainwaves

Series 5

Episode 3: Child Tissue Donation

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio Orkney

About BBC Radio Scotland