Dr Fellingham says she knew she wanted a tangible way to remember her VAD journeys. For her, it’s the locks from the boxes the VAD substances are supplied in – each combination code unique to the patient.
“After each admin, I would keep the locks and I put them in the bottom drawer of my bedside table,” she says.
The locks are held together by a single lock, which belonged to the hardest VAD case Dr Fellingham has been involved in. “A young woman who accelerated her end of life and people just couldn't get their heads around why someone so young would not want to live.”
She says other practitioners remember their patients in similar ways.
On the first anniversary of the legalisation of VAD in WA, Dr Fellingham joined a group of practitioners in a local park for a remembrance ceremony. She took along her ball of locks.
“We went through every combination and worked out exactly who they belonged to. And we reflected on every single person over an afternoon.”
