Canadian Heather Inslee’s story was published on CBC’s website. 24 Channels translates and publishes in an adapted form.

Unexpected SMS

A grieving mother was making the difficult decision to donate her son Sean Cox’s organs when she received a shocking text message from an unknown number. It was claimed that the message was sent by his son.

Cox, 43, had a long struggle with addiction, and Inslee believed he had just died from complications related to substance abuse. But at the same time, as addicts often do, he often wrote and called from different numbers when in touch, which greatly confused the woman.

Inslee’s husband, Bill, told her the text was probably just a “disgusting joke,” but when she received another message a few days later, she called the number and heard her son’s voice on the other end.

Parents appealed to the police

Inslee and her husband, along with Ottawa police, were able to locate Cox and make sure he was alive. However, before this, the mother had managed to prepare everything necessary for the funeral, which was to take place the next day.

I thought, “Oh my God, your funeral is tomorrow.” I thought about how happy I was that he was alive, but I still went through all this grief.
– the woman remembers.

terrible mistake

Here’s what happened: On New Year’s Day, when a man who looked a lot like Cox was admitted to a hospital in Ottawa, a nurse contacted Heather. Cox thought they were relatives because he had been hospitalized for an overdose months before the incident.

Because his face was partially covered by a fan and his hands were covered in tattoos and a thermal blanket, Inslee was unable to positively identify the man in the hospital bed, and indeed they did look alike, so the horrified mother couldn’t recognize him either. help but think no. about something else

He had the same hairstyle as my son, the same thick hair and the same long eyelashes.
– said Inslee.

The dead man’s identity remains unknown, but before the terrible mistake was discovered, the family obtained his handprint from the funeral home as a souvenir, which may now serve as a way to identify him.

The organs of the man, whose identity was not determined because the mistake was noticed later, were also donated at Inslee’s request.

“This was a serious mistake on their part and I blame myself for that, but this man was able to save three lives by donating his kidneys and liver,” he told CBC.

For her part, Cox told CBC she now feels like she’s been “given a second chance” to look at her life and turn things around.