My son saved four lives and now I'm friends with man who has his kidney

A courageous mum turned her teenage son's tragic death into a story of hope, then struck up an extraordinary friendship with a man whose life he helped to save.

- LYDIA VELJANOVSKI

After 15-year-old Dan Robinson was mown down by a speeding van while walking home, Debbie Enever was told he would not survive.

But despite her shock and grief, she knew she had one major decision to make that could mean other families didn't suffer a similar fate.

"My amazing son could do something amazing," says Debbie, 54. "He could donate his organs."

The single mum from Sheffield had discussed becoming a donor with Dan, a promising footballer, and she knew he was all for it.

"It wasn't even my decision, because I knew it's what Dan would have wanted," she recalls.

So as Dan lay on a gurney in Sheffield Children's Hospital after being hit by the van travelling at 48mph in a 30mph zone on May 26, 2018, she knew what she had to do.

Debbie says: "I felt like a Wile E Coyote who went off the edge of a cliff with my legs still spinning. It was just surreal."

Once Dan's wishes were relayed and she knew his death would give the chance of life to others, her feelings intensified. She explains: "When we were going down in the lift to take his body down for organ retrieval, I was actually really excited. Because this was something so positive.