Organ donor woke up in operating room moments before surgeons prepared to remove body parts

A woman has revealed the horrors she went through after an organ donation surgery nearly occurred, even though she woke up on the table.

There have been many conspiracies about organ donation, particularly when it comes to early harvesting and procuring organs from people who are yet to pass away.

Though a thing of nightmares, this became a reality for one woman who was lying helpless on the operating table of a New Mexico hospital.

Danella Gallegos now feels lucky to be alive after her organs were close to being taken after she fell into a coma in 2022.

Danella was 38 and homeless at the time, when she suffered a medical emergency, leading to her admission to the Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque.

Sadly, her condition seemed to be dire, and doctors told her family she would never recover. With that, her family made the tough choice to donate her organs and preparations were made.

That’s when the procurement organization New Mexico Donor Services took over.

Danella Gallegos was awake on the operating table when it was decided to donate her organs (Facebook)

Days before the operation, Danella's family claimed to have seen tears fall from her eyes, something that doctors allegedly said was just a reflex.

It's important to note that tearing can be a reflex due to corneal stimulation, but it doesn't always happen in the case of comas.

But on the day she was set to have her organs removed, her sisters were sure Danella was still alive, claiming she moved while holding her hand. However, she was still taken to the pre-surgery room, where the reality of her condition was revealed.

Doctors were left stunned when she woke up and was able to blink her eyes on command.

While you’d think this would immediately quash the surgery preparations, the organ coordinator in the room is alleged to have told doctors it was a reflex and to give her morphine to dull her reactions and go ahead with the surgery, according to a New York Times report.

Thankfully, Danella's doctors refused to perform the surgery and removed her from her room, where she went on to make a full recovery.

Now, two years later after the nightmare, she said to the New York Times: “I feel so fortunate. But it’s also crazy to think how close things came to ending differently.”

The surgeons immediately refused to conduct the organ removal when they realised Danella was alive (Getty Stock Images)

Hospital workers went on to disclose to the outlet that they faced pressure from New Mexico Donor Services to go ahead, even though they had doubts about whether they should

In response to the claims, Presbyterian Hospital said that Donor Services was responsible for all aspects of the donation process, and has launched an investigation into the case.

In a statement to the Times, Donor Services said that it does not interfere with medical decision-making and that the hospitals are the governing body that are in charge of patient care- at odds with what the hospital claimed.

Similarly, another person had an experience with organ donation attempting to happen before he was clinically dead.

In October 2021, a man named Anthony Thomas 'TJ' Hoover II was in hospital due to a drug overdose. He was declared dead and because he was an organ donor, he was prepped for surgery at Baptist Health hospital in Richmond, Kentucky.

But when he entered the room for surgery, doctors noticed he was moving.

The surgeon immediately refused to operate, and when they told the organ coordinator they’d have to find someone else to do the surgery if they were adamant of getting them, the supervisor allegedly 'yelled at' the coordinator and told them there was 'no one else'.

UNILAD has reached out to New Mexico Donor Services for comment.