He loved reptiles and Rod Stewart.
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A fair cricketer, a loving uncle, he borrowed clothes and forgot to give them back.
Eight hundred people attended his funeral.
That's all Hannah Whitton knows about her heart donor, his quirks and achievements enclosed in a letter from his father.
A year later, the 12-year-old and her mother Kristy still haven't written back.
"It's just so hard, where do you start?" Kristy said.
"How do you thank someone for saving your daughter's life? Words don't seem enough.
"I wouldn't have Hannah here without it."
Diagnosed with end stage Dilated Cardiomyopathy in March 2017, Hannah's heart had already started to fail when she went into cardiac arrest.
Flown from Armidale to Westmead, and then on to Melbourne, a ventricular assistive device implanted in her heart was the only thing that kept her alive.
Eventually the phone rang and the Whitton family couldn't believe their ears.
Hannah had a heart.
"I was scared," she said.
"I'm very grateful for whoever gave me the heart. It saved me."
At any one time, 1400 people are waiting for an organ or tissue transplant, another 11,000 spend hours on dialysis in the hopes of receiving a kidney.
The decision to donate is an act of extraordinary generosity, and because of it, Tamworth's Craig Lee can breathe.
It wasn't until he was 36 that doctors diagnosed him with a genetic disease called Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency that led to emphysema, and he was told he had 10 years to live. In the end every breath felt like he was choking.
"I was one infection off death," Mr Lee said.
"Everybody thought I was a smoker so they pushed me aside and waited for me to die - but I pushed for a transplant.
"I had a full on 12-month work up to make sure I was mentally and physically strong enough before the surgeon decided I could go on the list.
"It's like being a pregnant lady, you have your bag packed ready to go and jump at every f******* phone call you hear." Eventually he got the call, a set of lungs had become available for him in Sydney.
When he woke up in the Intensive Care Unit, he had four drains in his chest.
The pain of one is said to be equivalent to childbirth, but he'll never forget the first breath he took.
"It's just unexplainable, the gift we get," he said.
"Life can be taken away in an instant and I've been lucky to have been given life again, to do the things I couldn't do." The road after a transplant can be rough, and recipients wear the scars for the rest of their lives.
The threat of rejection is ever-present and without a cocktail of immuno-suppressant drugs, their bodies will attack the new organ and try to destroy it.
"It's trading one disease for another and that's what we're told in the process,
that's the price to live," Mr Lee said.
"I've already had two bouts of rejection, probably 80 per cent of us die of infection or cancer.
"But I've been given another chance to live, I'm not sitting around wrapped in cotton wool for the next 10 years like I have done."
One of the toughest things for some recipients to face is the necessary sacrifice for their second chance.
In Australia, the family of the donor is always asked to confirm the decision of their loved one.
It's trading one disease for another and that's what we're told in the process, that's the price to live.
- Craig Lee
When that person is already a registered donor, nine out of 10 families will honour that wish.
Nicole Coleman is a Hunter New England Health organ donation specialist nurse, at a time when a family's grief is so acute, it's her job to walk with them through the lasting decision to donate.
Years of training in counselling help, but equally important is the ability to be available, approachable and kind.
"In a donor situation, death is usually sudden and unexpected," she said.
"It's truly an honour to meet with families and help them in that time, this is a decision that is made at a time of grief.
"It's my job to support them adequately, to give them clear information so that months down the track they feel they made the right choice."
It's why it's so important to have the conversation about organ donation, for people who aren't registered, the number of families who make the decision to donate drops to just four in 10.
People are put on organ transplant waiting lists when they have end-stage organ failure, all other treatments have failed and they have run out of options. Sadly, some will die waiting.
Scott McIntosh was fortunate.
One family's choice to donate a set of lungs means he can one day watch his son get married.
At the time of his transplant he was on a respirator that had to force air into his hardened lungs.
"When they eventually pulled the lungs out and did a biopsy on them, they were chock-a-block full of lung cancer," he said.
"If they knew that beforehand I would have been immediately excluded from the process and consigned to the fallen-off-the-perch pile.
"I was absolutely kissed on the ass by a fairy for sure.
"It takes a while for your head to get around it, to think shit, maybe I do have a future."
Every day Mr McIntosh honours the sacrifice his donor family made.
This DonateLife Week, the goal is to eventually add 6 million people to the Australian Organ Donor Register.
So have that conversation with family, it might just save a life.