A FORMER marathon runner who died of a stroke has saved FIVE lives after having nearly all his major organs transplanted.
Dad-of-two Jeff Wingrove died of a massive stroke after being diagnosed with vertigo.
Heartbroken wife Isabelle had to make the agonising decision to turn off his life support machine - but she now believes he lives on in the people he has saved.
His heart went to a 19-year-old man, a 53-year-old man received a double lung transplant, a 50-year-old man received Jeff's liver, a woman, 35, got his pancreas and a kidney while another woman, also 35, was given his other kidney.
Tearful Isabelle said: "We hadn't discussed organ donation but I know it's what he would have wanted.
"One of the recipients has since written to me thanking me for donating his organs. I think his spirit lives on in them."
An out-of-hours GP, Dr Francisca Ogunbiyi, was covering services in Braintree, Essex, when she refused to make a house call after Jeff collapsed at home. He later died in hospital. She has been given a warning by the General Medical Council but not been barred from practice.
Isabelle, 54, said: "Even now I can't forgive that doctor for what she did. If she had bothered to come out and see Jeff, he would still be alive today.
"Jeff and I had been together for over 30 years. But while she has the rest of her life to look forward to, I am alone without my soulmate.
"Friends used to joke we were like a honeymoon couple and as our son Danny had just left home and Marc was growing older we were both looking forward to spending time together even more."
But in December 2006 their lives were turned upside down when Jeff suddenly collapsed in terrible pain.
Isabelle, a school art technician, said: "It was a Saturday and we were about to go shopping.
"But just before we left Jeff went to the bathroom. He came out on his hands and knees and as soon as I saw him I knew he was terribly ill.
"He managed to crawl into bed. He said he had a banging headache and was being sick.
"When he said to call the doctor I knew it was serious - he was the sort of man who was never ill."
Isabelle rang her doctor but as it was a Saturday she was directed to an out-of-hours service run for Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust by private firm Primecare, for whom Dr Ogunbiyi worked.
Isabelle requested a home visit but the doctor refused, saying Jeff was suffering from vertigo and prescribed anti-sickness drugs.
But Jeff's condition deteriorated and she called the GP again. Isabelle was told she would have to take Jeff to hospital to have him seen by a doctor. Harrowing tape recordings of the phone call have since been released of Isabelle pleading with Dr Ogunbiyi to come and help him.
Isabelle said: "I tried to get Jeff out of bed but he was 6ft tall and I am just under 5ft. It was absolutely impossible."
At 9pm that night Isabelle called an ambulance but when they arrived the paramedics also said Jeff just had vertigo. The following lunchtime she and Marc, then aged 12, were downstairs when they heard an almighty thud.
She says: "We rushed upstairs to find Jeff had fallen out of the bed.
"It was terrible - although he'd been in pain through the night, he'd been able to talk normally to me.
"Now, he didn't even recognise Marc or myself. We didn't know then but he'd had a second stroke."
It was to prove fatal. Despite the ambulance rushing Jeff to hospital, he died the next day. He was just 48.
Isabelle said: "Doctors said it wasn't vertigo but a stroke. I have since been told that had he received the proper help when he first became ill, he would have survived. The thought he died when he needn't have haunts me."
Jeff was brain dead on a life support system and Isabelle then had to make the decision to switch it off. "That was when I decided to donate Jeff's organs," Isabelle said.
"I remembered seeing a TV programme where a person who'd had a transplant said it had given her a new lease of life. Donating his organs was a way of feeling that Jeff was still living on.
"And although I don't know their names, doctors have given me the basic details of every person he helped through his death."
Following the tragedy, she and sons Marc, now 17, and Danny, 26, have since been awarded a six-figure sum for clinical negligence against Dr Ogunbiyi and East Of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
Heartbroken wife Isabelle had to make the agonising decision to turn off his life support machine - but she now believes he lives on in the people he has saved.
His heart went to a 19-year-old man, a 53-year-old man received a double lung transplant, a 50-year-old man received Jeff's liver, a woman, 35, got his pancreas and a kidney while another woman, also 35, was given his other kidney.
Tearful Isabelle said: "We hadn't discussed organ donation but I know it's what he would have wanted.
"One of the recipients has since written to me thanking me for donating his organs. I think his spirit lives on in them."
An out-of-hours GP, Dr Francisca Ogunbiyi, was covering services in Braintree, Essex, when she refused to make a house call after Jeff collapsed at home. He later died in hospital. She has been given a warning by the General Medical Council but not been barred from practice.
Isabelle, 54, said: "Even now I can't forgive that doctor for what she did. If she had bothered to come out and see Jeff, he would still be alive today.
"Jeff and I had been together for over 30 years. But while she has the rest of her life to look forward to, I am alone without my soulmate.
"Friends used to joke we were like a honeymoon couple and as our son Danny had just left home and Marc was growing older we were both looking forward to spending time together even more."
But in December 2006 their lives were turned upside down when Jeff suddenly collapsed in terrible pain.
Isabelle, a school art technician, said: "It was a Saturday and we were about to go shopping.
"But just before we left Jeff went to the bathroom. He came out on his hands and knees and as soon as I saw him I knew he was terribly ill.
"He managed to crawl into bed. He said he had a banging headache and was being sick.
"When he said to call the doctor I knew it was serious - he was the sort of man who was never ill."
Isabelle rang her doctor but as it was a Saturday she was directed to an out-of-hours service run for Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust by private firm Primecare, for whom Dr Ogunbiyi worked.
Isabelle requested a home visit but the doctor refused, saying Jeff was suffering from vertigo and prescribed anti-sickness drugs.
But Jeff's condition deteriorated and she called the GP again. Isabelle was told she would have to take Jeff to hospital to have him seen by a doctor. Harrowing tape recordings of the phone call have since been released of Isabelle pleading with Dr Ogunbiyi to come and help him.
Isabelle said: "I tried to get Jeff out of bed but he was 6ft tall and I am just under 5ft. It was absolutely impossible."
At 9pm that night Isabelle called an ambulance but when they arrived the paramedics also said Jeff just had vertigo. The following lunchtime she and Marc, then aged 12, were downstairs when they heard an almighty thud.
She says: "We rushed upstairs to find Jeff had fallen out of the bed.
"It was terrible - although he'd been in pain through the night, he'd been able to talk normally to me.
"Now, he didn't even recognise Marc or myself. We didn't know then but he'd had a second stroke."
It was to prove fatal. Despite the ambulance rushing Jeff to hospital, he died the next day. He was just 48.
Isabelle said: "Doctors said it wasn't vertigo but a stroke. I have since been told that had he received the proper help when he first became ill, he would have survived. The thought he died when he needn't have haunts me."
Jeff was brain dead on a life support system and Isabelle then had to make the decision to switch it off. "That was when I decided to donate Jeff's organs," Isabelle said.
"I remembered seeing a TV programme where a person who'd had a transplant said it had given her a new lease of life. Donating his organs was a way of feeling that Jeff was still living on.
"And although I don't know their names, doctors have given me the basic details of every person he helped through his death."
Following the tragedy, she and sons Marc, now 17, and Danny, 26, have since been awarded a six-figure sum for clinical negligence against Dr Ogunbiyi and East Of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
To join the organ donor register call 0300 123 23 23 or see uktransplant.org.uk.
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