Monday, September 18, 2017

Parents to make film on daughter whose organs saved 8 lives

Source Website: http://www.asiaone.com/malaysia/parents-make-film-daughter-whose-organs-saved-8-lives
By Asiaone, The Star/Asia News Network, 17 September 2017



Mark Kok Wah and wife Ariess Tan plan to do an inspiring movie that will have the audience crying buckets, for their daughter Carmen.
PHOTO: Mark Kok Wah and wife Ariess Tan plan to do an inspiring movie that will have the audience crying buckets, for their daughter Carmen.
PHOTO: The Star/Asia News Network

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http://www.asiaone.com/malaysia/parents-make-film-daughter-whose-organs-saved-8-lives



GEORGE TOWN - She died young and her donated organs saved eight people.

That sounds like the plot for an inspiring movie that will have the audience crying buckets. So Mark Kok Wah and wife Ariess Tan plan to do just that for their daughter Carmen.



Carmen Mark's parents Mark Kok Wah and Ariess Tan planing to have a movie about their daughter who passed away and donated her organs to save eight people.
PHOTO: Carmen Mark's parents Mark Kok Wah and Ariess Tan planing to have a movie about their daughter who passed away and donated her organs to save eight people.
PHOTO: The Star/Asia News Network

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7cNLpxs57TIa4JQImhMw6-e_yAeNtCoikVM445b2ofRyQvbcewiskDTXzuPVJPoC7C-ejxlTt8rIvSQyoSx6qHoFq8aKzjpwZpnlE6aW1lgKrNIwotiMjpnxF8v8dGGY1eu-BI5nV9RY/s1600/carmenmarkparents_star-1.png
http://www.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/original_images/Sep2017/carmenmarkparents_star.jpg
http://www.asiaone.com/malaysia/parents-make-film-daughter-whose-organs-saved-8-lives



They want to make the movie and set up the Carmen Mark Foundation to globally promote the nobility of organ donation.

"We will give all the rights and proceeds of the film to the foundation to make it sustainable.

"I am working on the script with someone now," said Mark.

He said the foundation would also be a charity to disburse funds to welfare homes and families with children who have arteriovenous malformation (AVM), which Carmen had.

"Carmen's AVM was severe. Children who have it can be saved, but the procedure is not cheap. We would like to help them through the foundation," he said.

Carmen died in 2015 shortly after arriving in Singapore armed with a scholarship to further her studies.

The Penang girl had an arterial rupture in her brain, fell into a coma for three weeks and died without waking.

She was 18.

Though wracked with grief, her parents then immediately made arrangements for her organs to be donated. It was a wish Carmen had voiced when she was 16.

On Friday, Mark, 46, and Tan, 43, met Serene Lee, 37, the recipient of Carmen's heart.

They were overcome with emotion when they used a stethoscope to listen to Carmen's heart beating in Lee.

"For me now, I don't feel like my daughter is completely gone.

"I used to cry every night since she passed but now I feel better as Serene keeps in touch with us.

"I feel like Carmen is looking down at us," he said with a choke in his voice.



A school of dolphins swimming by Mark's boat near the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Bridge in Batu Kawan, Penang.
PHOTO: A school of dolphins swimming by Mark's boat near the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Bridge in Batu Kawan, Penang.
Photo: The Star/Asia News Netwoek

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http://www.asiaone.com/malaysia/parents-make-film-daughter-whose-organs-saved-8-lives



Yesterday, Mark and Tan brought Lee to the spot where they spread Carmen's cremated ashes, under the mid-section of the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Bridge.

All of them cried as they floated flowers on the sea below the bridge.

Just as they arrived, a large school of dolphins playing on the water surface swam in circles to within 3m of their boat.

By The Star/Asia News Network, 17 September 2017


To read more, click on the following pictures.

The moment Mark Kok Wah and his wife Ariess Tan met their new 'daughter' Serene Lee, they burst into tears.
PHOTO: Organ donor's parents meet woman who received her heart
The moment Mark Kok Wah and his wife Ariess Tan met their new "daughter" Serene Lee, they burst into tears.
Posted by The Star/Asia News Network, 16 September 2017

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDnFuzv7L9D1hKV_P3FIns8LtWQSo48F7LY7vzKB-9U-RNifsCWssqFOLjKzglsf-Pf4UBub9F3V5F48nq2xB6tnJ-ZF4zNm5bbt7UPgYhIVdUm0ZjGZyBcdFv1Jn_Fnxg7Iz32xOqTM/s1600/heartdonor_star.jpg
http://www.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/640x360/public/original_images/Sep2017/heartdonor_star.jpg?itok=En3fq3_X
http://www.asiaone.com/malaysia/organ-donors-parents-meet-woman-who-received-her-heart
http://veryfatoldman.blogspot.sg/2017/09/organ-donors-parents-meet-woman-who.html



Ms Serene Lee (left) with her children Jasher, 14, Jazaree, seven, and Joash, 17. The photo was taken in March last year during her first trip to Taiwan with a new heart.
PHOTO: Ms Serene Lee (left) with her children Jasher, 14, Jazaree, seven, and Joash, 17. The photo was taken in March last year during her first trip to Taiwan with a new heart.
Parents of heart donor to meet recipient, Serene Lee, who tracks them down after reading about teen girl's tragic death in the papers.
Ms Lee, a part-time clinic assistant had no heartbeat of her own. Her heart was fully powered instead by a mechanical pump that ran on a set of external batteries that had to be recharged every 12 hours.
She suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle which causes a weakening of the heart such that it is unable to pump blood efficiently. This condition often leads to heart failure.
Mr Mark and Ms Lee said they are coming forward with their stories to raise awareness about organ donation in this part of the world, so more lives can be saved and that Carmen's legacy can continue.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Serene Lee
Picture posted by Audrey Tan, The Straits Times on 12 September 2017 at 5:00 am SGT

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFHvUeLqGB1dBg9BGy23d3vbBT7904adZRtK6EeSpc2m4olLYf1fgFjEi7uLA0vIGblcGhgPCygACA3coVJ5rs1YO-KDvLuP_SUl2Nly5NJZB7xR9vSERjJGlNYv0C1ghAYHl2KR_SWg/s1600/ST_20170912_AUHEART120TE6_3411820.jpg
http://www.straitstimes.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_pictrure_780x520_/public/articles/2017/09/12/ST_20170912_AUHEART120TE6_3411820.jpg?itok=AxsKZevL
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parents-of-heart-donor-to-meet-recipient
http://veryfatoldman.blogspot.sg/2017/09/parents-eager-to-hear-their-late.html



A beating heart, strong and even, resonated for 30 seconds, then their tears started to flow.
PHOTO: A beating heart, strong and even, resonated for 30 seconds, then their tears started to flow.
Carmen Mark's parents (above) listening to a recording of her heart beating in Ms Serene Lee's chest.
PHOTOS: THE STRAITS TIMES, ST FILE
Picture posted by Audrey Tan, The New Paper on 16 September 2017 at 06:00 am

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIGlseIDoYUeogm0mWfIKhHlALBPr_67LSadvQM_e17ujFo7E1CLZm5Go8dBca-reg2WB1Gh30HNWuFKL88MV66Efq982jSmgee61mofZs0mCgDcKxJzBmDjrhMZi71W6W2xv_hWg6aWY/s1600/np_20170916_auheart16_16255412.jpg
http://www.tnp.sg/sites/default/files/styles/rl680/public/articles/2017/09/16/np_20170916_auheart16_16255412.jpg?itok=SHJRCny_
http://www.tnp.sg/news/world/tears-flow-couple-hear-late-daughters-heartbeat-again
http://veryfatoldman.blogspot.sg/2017/09/recording-of-dead-daughters-heartbeat.html



Carmen Mark in her student nurse's uniform.
PHOTO: Carmen Mark in her student nurse's uniform.
Carmen, who had been studying to be a nurse at Nanyang Polytechnic, had suffered an arterial rupture in her brain.
But in death, she became a lifesaver - her heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas were donated to four patients. Her parents signed their consent for her organs to be donated under the Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act, which was what she had wanted.
'I promise you. Carmen's legacy will live on and I will walk the hospital wards until this heart stops, to be an inspiration to other patients for as long as this heart beats.' - Serene Lee, the recipient of Carmen's heart
Picture posted by Audrey Tan, The Straits Times on 12 September 2017 at 5:00 am SGT
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRXBZ7sIR0dqboS36hzt3hph0HtNMxs4Nki6ne_vh9ZdSw9cIjgzxov1fqJqthuZEHK6LkBLR7SRe4ljsv-Rq96aNhvjQZb45IO6-4hQgGYvWhIj1SaQDWbEKroXAyEI9n_XVtqawXI38/s1600/st_20170912_carmen_8_3411819.jpg
http://www.straitstimes.com/sites/default/files/articles/2017/09/12/st_20170912_carmen_8_3411819.jpg
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parents-of-heart-donor-to-meet-recipient
http://veryfatoldman.blogspot.sg/2017/09/couple-to-meet-woman-who-received-their.html




Reference
[1] The Star/Asia News Network, Parents to make film on daughter whose organs saved 8 lives, posted on 17 September 2017, http://www.asiaone.com/malaysia/parents-make-film-daughter-whose-organs-saved-8-lives

Links
overcome with emotion when they used a stethoscope to listen to Carmen's heart - http://www.asiaone.com/malaysia/organ-donors-parents-meet-woman-who-received-her-heart