When Kon Yiannopoulos spoke to Neos Kosmos in 2019, his wish had been to offer his lungs to science.
A sufferer of Idiopathic Pulminary Fibrosis (IPF), a rare and cruel lung conditions difficult to diagnose, Mr Yiannopoulos had felt what it is like to have his air sacs thicken and become scarred over time for reasons yet to be understood. Decline was inevitable and Mr Yiannopoulos talked about an “invisible enemy” long before COVID-19.
When Neos Kosmos had caught up with him, he was in the process of arranging for his lungs to be at the disposal of scientists for research purposes so that doctors could find out more about the debilitating disease, and he had joked that he would gladly offered “two damaged lungs in exchange for one working properly”.
Regarding organ donation, he had said: “This is the best I can do, help scientists[…] I challenge them to keep working on a cure, it’s like saying to the scientific community ‘I will donate my two lungs, you can now go ahead, prepare your scalpels and tear them in pieces to try and find the cause of the disease and help others…”
READ MORE: Greek Australian IPF patient pledges to donate his lungs for research
Unfortunately, this did not eventuate as he died at home, however his medical records had been open to researchers through the Australian Interstitial Lung Disease Register.
He eventually succumbed to IPF, but had come to terms with his constantly worsening situation. His attitude had been stoic.
“What is there to be afraid of? We will all ‘leave’ at some point,” he had told Neos Kosmos.
Apart from having IPF, Mr Yiannopoulos was a writer of songs and a father of four who was much loved. He had asked to be cremated and for people not to cry at his funeral but to be accompanied with clarinet and songs. His wife said that he will be cremated in a small ceremony due to COVID-19, but there would be no clarinet-playing.
“We will find a way to give his songs to his friends,” she told Neos Kosmos.