A devastated mother got a thank you note around the third anniversary of her teenage son’s tragic death – from the woman who received his kidney.
Daniel Squire was just 18 when he was knocked off his bike by a van while training for the gruelling Iron Man triathlon in 2013.
His parents, Tracy and Symon Squire, made the difficult decision to donate his organs after being told he was not going to survive from the crash in Ringwould, Kent.
Daniel’s kidneys, heart and part of his liver have since been passed on to four different people.
Last Saturday, his parents received a card from the woman who is alive thanks to one of his kidneys.
The note said: “It’s been three years and I thank you every day. You gave others hope in your darkest hour. All is going well. x”
Mrs Squire, 51, of Dover, Kent, said: “We don’t know who this lady is, we have never gone into that.
“It is a very conflicted sort of thing. As much as you want to know, there is a part of you that doesn’t want to know.
“When you do get a letter, it just makes you think he is still alive somewhere.
“Apparently she is doing fantastic.
“We received a letter from her right at the very beginning.
“She said she had been given the last rites.
“She was in her 30s, she had a young family. She couldn’t do anything.
“She keeps saying it is a wonderful gift that we have given her in her darkest of times.
“It does mean a lot. And that is nice – it is a little bit comforting to know our son is still alive in someone else.
“He was a very kind, loving boy. Anyone who has got a piece of Daniel should be really quite happy and honoured, because he was an exceptional young man.”
Mrs Squire, who also has a daughter Hayley, 28, and a nine-year-old granddaughter, said: “It was something I had given a lot of thought about.
“I decided it would definitely be what he wanted.”
Her son had recently started a new job in logistics, and planned to go to college.
Mrs Squire, who works in the behavioural department at a school, said: “He had just come into his own. It was something he was really getting into.
“He was in a really happy place.
“He had just about four weeks before that bought a bike.
“He had just signed up to do the Iron Man in Devon.
“He was absolutely over the moon he was chosen to do it, because it is very hard to get into.
“That was something he was training for.”
At the time he was killed, he was on his way to meet his father, Symon, at a cycling club, before heading out on a 100 mile ride.
In March 2015, Philip Sinden, who was driving a Vauxhall Vivaro, was cleared of causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving.
The trial focused on whether he was texting in the minutes before impact and he admitted texting earlier in his journey.
Mrs Squire has campaigned ever since to ban drivers from using their mobile phone at the wheel.
She said: “Just don’t do it. At the end of the day, your phone goes off and it is a text coming, you think it’s the be all and end all.
“Just put it in your glove compartment. And if there is a text you need to send, just pull away somewhere.
“It is getting bigger than drink driving, I believe. But it cannot be policed because it is just too hard to prove.
“But if you are caught on camera, it should be an instant ban, just like it is for drink driving. I will say that till the day I die.
“A car is a lethal weapon. I see it time and time again, and it is scary because it is growing.
“People just don’t realise the devastation they are leaving behind. It is just not worth it.”
