ORGANS donated by tragic teenager Duwayne Philpott helped saved the life of a young man, it has been revealed.
And Duwayne's older brothers, David, 27, Richard, 26, Mikey, 16, and his sister, 22-year-old Michaela, were invited to a special ceremony at which he was posthumously honoured for his gift of life.
His older siblings have spoken for the first time to pay a heartfelt tribute to their younger brother, whom they described as "a wonderful caring person, who loved his little brothers and sisters".
Duwayne died at the age of 13, along with his younger siblings, Jade, 10, John, nine, Jack, seven, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five, after a fire broke out at their home in Victory Road, Allenton on May 11, 2012.
David, Richard and Michaela joined other family members to make the brave decision to allow Duwayne's life support machine to be turned off and his organs donated.
Self-employed bricklayer Richard said: "Duwayne was a massive Derby County fan. After the fire, Derby County held a two-minute silence before kick-off and I attended. I sat in Duwayne's seat and took Mikey along with me."
"All of us feel thankful that we had the kids in our lives.
"It was a very hard decision to make when we agreed to turn off his life support machine.
"It is something I will never forget. The pain was immense. David and Michaela were with me. There were eight of us in the room.
"We talked to the organ donation team and we agreed that something good should come out of something so tragic and sad."
Richard, David, Mikey and Michaela, who have the same father as the children, travelled to Leicester for a special award ceremony. People who gave the ultimate gift of life through organ donation were honoured posthumously. Duwayne was one.
"The four of us went together," said Richard. "It was a sad evening but, at the same time, it was really good for us to go.
"It isn't often that the four of us get the chance to do something together, so we took the positives from the night and enjoyed being together as a family."
Michaela said: "They could not have thanked us enough for making the decision to donate Duwayne's organs.
"It's a nice feeling to think that part of Duwayne is still in this world. I just wish we could have donated organs from our other brothers and sister to help more people."
Richard said he had so many good memories of spending time with Duwayne, John, Jack, Jesse, Jaydon and Jade at the house. He loved spending the weekend at his dad's and says it was always lively and fun. Christmases, he says, were "crazy" as the house was filled with presents.
"We all used to go to Skegness together," he said. "And we'd visit theme parks, zoos and safari parks. We'd go fishing and make trips to the cinema and go swimming.
"The kids had loads of days out. They had a birthday cake for every birthday. Everything the kids needed they always had, and more.
"Whenever David, and me and Michaela came, the little ones would go crazy. They'd be banging on the windows with excitement when we pulled up outside. And when we walked through the door, they'd pile on us. We would play fight with them and end up sprawled out on the floor in a big mess.
"The little kids loved us coming and we loved them. I'd go and watch Derby play and have my dinner cooked for when I got back. Family life was good."
David said: "Some things are still very vivid in my mind, like when we all sat in the hospital chapel and a doctor came to tell us that Duwayne wasn't going to make it. We were all hoping that he would survive. By then, we knew that all the other children had passed away.
"We told him stories that we had shared with him, like when Michaela was cutting his hair and forgot to attach the grader and he had to have all hair shaved off, although he was very forgiving and saw the funny side.
"Duwayne looked alive and the nurses encouraged us to talk to him in case he could hear us without being able to respond. He was attached to a machine and We prayed that he would make it.
"It felt like once Duwayne knew that his younger brothers and sister had gone he would then be able to join them. He was very close to the younger ones and would not want to be without them.
"We think he decided to go with them so they wouldn't be on their own."
