CRITICAL: Perth liver mum Claire Murray is hoping a live transplant will save her life. Picture: Sixty Minutes Source: PerthNow
CRITICAL: Perth liver mum Claire Murray is hoping a live transplant will save her life. Picture: Sixty Minutes Source: PerthNow
THE Perth mother of two whose taxpayer-assisted liver transplant has
divided WA has opened up on her fears and regrets, declaring "I don't
deserve a second chance".
Claire
Murray, who will undergo a life or death ``live'' liver transplant on
Wednesday, said: `` I'd rather die than be an addict and now I've put
my family in the predicament where one of them can die trying to save
me for a second time.''
The recovering heroin addict, who celebrates her 25th birthday on Sunday, has prepared herself for the worst.
``I've already accepted the death part of it,'' she said from her Singapore hospital bed.
``I've
put a lot of people through a lot of pain and just to wake up every
day, wake up knowing what I've done, how many times I've done it, how
many people I've hurt. It's just a really hard thing.''
If her
transplant fails, Ms Murray has written emotionally-charged letters of
explanation to her two children -- Chloe, 6, and Taj, 4 -- her parents,
brother and sister and uncles and aunties.
She has also sealed birthday cards for Chloe and Taj to let them know mum is still looking over them.
It can also be revealed:
*
WA Health Minister Kim Hames has signalled he would be reluctant to
chase down the $250,000 interest-free loan provided to the Murray
family to enable the life-saving operation in the event of Ms Murray
failing to survive the risky medical procedure.
* Dr Hames has
admitted the State Government has begun to field requests from severely
ill West Australians and their family members for financial help
similar to that given to Ms Murray.
* Ms Murray said she has
tried to talk her mother, Val, and aunt, Carolynn, out of donating part
of their liver for the operation. The two women have endured a week of
medical tests at Singapore's Mt Elizabeth Hospital to work out which
one is the best fit to give Ms Murray part of their liver. They face a
one-in-100 chance they could die on the operating table, compared with
Ms Murray's 80 per cent odds of survival.
* Ms Murray has
already made plans for her funeral, saying she wants to be buried in
her new black-and-gold Adidas tracksuit because she can't bear the
thought of going to her grave in a dress.
Dr Hames agreed he had
set a precedent that could open the floodgates for other desperate
cases. ``It is possible that that's what I've done,'' he acknowledged.
``That does expose our State Government to some risk and as a minister I have to wear that.''
He admitted the decision may mean further payouts for State Treasury.
``It is true,'' he said. ``I will have to consider other people who come forward with similar cases.
``There have been some requests come through.''
Ms
Murray's plight has polarised West Australians since Nationals MP Vince
Catania and Labor MP Martin Whitely brought her case to the public's
attention last month.
She received her first donor liver last
year because she had acute liver failure caused by 12 years of
addiction to heroin and amphetamines. But the donor liver failed,
giving her only months to live without another transplant.
Ms
Murray admitted taking drugs after the first transplant and was
prevented from returning to the transplant waiting list by national
protocols that forbid persistent substance abusers from being eligible
for donor organs.
Dr Hames this week said the decision taken by doctors at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital's transplant unit was the right one.
``They
discussed her case three times and then formed the view that giving her
another chance just wasn't appropriate in the view of the ones that
were still waiting, and I agreed with them,'' he said.
In a controversial move, the State Government gave the Murray family a $250,000 interest-free loan over two years.
Doctors in Singapore agreed to carry out a live liver transplant and Ms Murray and her family flew out of Perth on March 5.
Dr Hames was not keen to commit the State Government to recovering the debt from the Murray family if the operation failed.
``Would
I take them to court and seize the house to get it back? I think I'd
need to make (that) decision at the time -- obviously it would be a
very hard thing to do,'' he said.
