A GLASGOW-based scriptwriter has died in hospital just days after complaining about the lack of organ donors.
Frank Deasy, 49, who suffered from liver cancer, died in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in the early hours of Thursday morning while on the list for an organ donation.
On Sunday, Deasy wrote in a national newspaper of his battle with a primary liver tumour, which was diagnosed in January.
He described how surreal it felt to be living under a "death threat" while still feeling fit and well.
He wrote: "Little changes at home, I take the kids to school, we celebrate birthdays and argue over whether they're old enough to walk to school on their own.
"They probably are but the one thing I know for certain is they're not old enough to be without their dad.
"The thought of them losing their father at this point in their lives feels unbearable, too cruel to contemplate, yet each day that passes it comes closer."
Deasy was an Emmy award-winning screenwriter whose television credits included Prime Suspect - The Final Act, Looking After Jo Jo and Father And Son.
His cinema credits include The Grass Arena and Captives, and he was working on Gaza, a feature film starring Helen Mirren.
Hollywood star Dougray Scott led tributes to Deasy, who was originally from Dublin but moved to Glasgow 12 years ago, where he lived with his wife and three children.
The actor described Deasy as "brave, kind, selfless and passionate to the end".
He said: "Today a great, great man was taken away from us. Very few times in life is one fortunate and blessed enough to meet a person like Frank Deasy.
"He was quite simply the most extraordinary and brilliant writer I have ever worked with and one of the most extraordinary and beautiful men I was blessed to have met.
"Whenever I spent time or talked with Frank I always felt the warmth, wisdom and sheer joy of life that I remember getting from my own father.
"That's how special he was to me. He was."
"He had everything I admire in a human being. Protective, caring and loving to his very special wife and children. And brave. So brave. Frank Deasy will be with me always."
In a statement, Anthony Jones, of United Agents, said: “The film and television writer Frank Deasy died suddenly today at the age of 49.
“Among his best-known credits were the mini-series Looking After Jo Jo, Real Men, England Expects, the final mini-series of Prime Suspect, for which he won many awards including an International Emmy, and, last year, The Passion.
“He was suffering from liver cancer and, in the past 10 days, his article in The Observer highlighting the lack of organ donors in Great Britain and Ireland generated an enormous response from the public and in particular from the Irish government.”
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