A teenager’s organs were damaged so severely by the long wait for an ambulance that his family were told they were not “viable” for donation after his death. 

Graham Helps’ son, Alex, left their home in Celbridge to go to work in June 2022 when he was knocked down by a vehicle. 

He sustained a serious head injury and emergency services were called. 

“He was attended to by nurses, had fantastic care, the local GP attended to him,” Mr Helps told The Hard Shoulder.  

“The Guards were called, ambulances were called; the Guards arrived and closed the road; no ambulance had arrived. 

“The Guards called the ambulance and were told it would be 45-minutes until the ambulance arrived.” 

Organ donation

After he was transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, Alex underwent a brain scan and doctors concluded his injuries were too severe for him to recover. 

The Helps family decided to switch off his life support machine and asked whether it would be possible to donate his organs. 

“We were told, unfortunately, because of the lack of oxygen at the road side and the delay of the ambulance service responding, they were unable to use any of his organs - they weren’t viable,” Mr Helps said. 

“Had an ambulance arrived earlier, whilst it wouldn’t have made a difference to the outcome for our son, he could have gone on to help other people if the equipment had arrived sooner.

“The response time is [meant to be] approximately seven to 19 minutes for the area we live. 

“45-minutes just seems an awful long time for us to wait.” 

The coroner has since written to the ambulance service, asking why it took so long for Alex to be attended upon. 

“We’ve heard no response as of today,” Mr Helps said. 

“That’s where we are.”

Main image: Alex Helps. Picture by: RIP.ie