Evelyn MP Heather McTaggart has decided to share the loss of her first By Dion Teasdale
EVELYN MP Heather McTaggart has spoken publicly for the first time about the death of her first husband, Greg McTaggart.
Heather last week decided to speak about Greg’s death as she launched a campaign to promote organ and tissue donation in the local community.
Greg McTaggart died from a massive heart attack 14 years ago, at the age of 33, leaving Heather a widow at 29 years of age.
“Greg went to a milk bar and just dropped dead. I was at work when the police came to tell me,” she told the Mail.
“It was the beginning of a very dark, depressing time in my life.
“We had known each other for three years after meeting in a pub in Darwin, and had been married for just 18 months when he died.”
A week after Greg’s death, Heather discovered she was pregnant with their first child, a son, Matthew, who was born nine months later.
Despite being overjoyed by news of her pregnancy, Heather said Greg’s death was the beginning of years of overwhelming grief and emotional stress.
She spent five years as a single mother living on a pension and struggled to come to terms with her loss, working hard to provide the strength and support her young son needed.
“I guess making it through those tough times has made me a stronger person, and I think it has allowed me to empathise with other people and the hard times they face,” she said.
In Parliament earlier this month Heather spoke about Greg’s death during a speech relating to the Bracks Governments amendments to the Coroners Act 1985 and the Human Tissue Act 1982.
“I haven’t ever put my personal story out there before this, but I decided now would be a good time because it could help raise awareness of the importance of organ and tissue donation,” she said.
Within hours of Greg’s death, Heather said she received a phone call from the Donor Tissue Bank asking whether she would give permission to donate organs or tissue.
“Greg and I often spoke about organ donation and would laugh that neither of us would have any organs of any use to anybody, but I knew it was what he would have wanted,” she said.
“We were both aware of the benefits to recipients of organ and tissue donation, and I am very proud to say that the donated tissue from Greg resulted in successful transplants to enhance the lives of not one but up to 10 persons.”
Heather said amendments to the Human Tissue Act have prompted her to organise an organ donor sign-up day, to be held on World Organ Donor Day on Saturday, 14 October at Ranges Community Health, 17 Clarke Street, Lilydale, from 10am to 1pm.
“I am writing to every family in my electorate and encouraging them to sign up,” she said.
“Many of us are a bit lazy and do not take the time to pop online and register or discuss it with our families,” she said.
Heather, who entered Parliament in 2002, remarried six years ago and now has twin daughters with second husband Ken Preston.
“I got a happy ending and I’m very grateful for that,” she said.
