Son killed in hockey accident is honoured for donating organs

A surveyor who died after accidentally being hit on the head with a hockey stick has received a posthumous award for donating his organs.

Tom Wilson, 22, was fatally injured last December at a training session with Old Loughtonians hockey club, Chigwell. His organs, skin and bones helped save the lives of critically ill people.

His mother Lisa, 53, from Hornchurch, collected the award with her daughter Philippa, 21. She said: “I feel so proud of Tom. He wasn’t able to have a family but he gave the gift of life to other people so that they can grow up and go on to have families themselves.”

The Order of St John award for organ donation was one of 34 presented last week to the families of donors, in conjunction with NHS Blood and Transplant in London.

Tom, a trainee surveyor for Lambert Smith Hampton, had joined the organ donor register when he was a student at Nottingham Trent University.

Mrs Wilson, a deputy headteacher, said: “Tom was a real gentleman. He was caring and clever, and he was handsome. It’s such a shame.

"But it was an accident. We just want to keep his memory alive. We had spoken about organ donation over the dinner table but we didn’t know Tom had signed up on the organ donor register.

“When it happened and it was clear the injuries were so severe, my husband said we should consider it, and the following day we found out he was on the register. It made the decision so much easier.”

The family suffered a second tragedy when Tom’s father, Graham, died eight weeks after his son, at 63. Mr Wilson, a former Daily Express sub-editor and the chairman of the Hockey Writers’ Association, contracted sepsis during treatment for brain cancer, diagnosed after Tom’s death.

Father and son were remembered at the Rio Olympics by Team GB’s women hockey players. Susannah Townsend, who had played hockey with Philippa, wore a Union Flag with the words “For Tom and G Wilson” as she collected her gold medal.

Mrs Wilson has now set up the Tom Wilson Memorial Fund to raise money for research into head injuries and brain tumours, to promote organ donation, and to encourage children into sport.

This summer Philippa graduated with a first-class degree. Her mother said: “Tom and Graham would be so proud of her, it was an amazing achievement.”