Korumburra Baptist Church pastor Ian Wilkinson who is the only survivor of the now-famous beef Wellington lunch is reportedly critically ill as residents offer to donate their organs if he needs a transplant procedure.
On July 29, Erin Patterson held a family lunch for her ex-inlaws Gail and Don Patterson, As well as Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Lan Wilkinson.
Since the lunch, Gail, Don, and Heather have all died from what is believed to be mushroom poisoning, while Lan is still in the hospital intensive care unit.
The 68-year-old pastor’s contribution to the local community has prompted the locals from Korumburra where he is hospitalized to offer to donate their organs if he needs a transplant procedure.
“I’ve had community members phone me this week and say, ‘I’ve heard Ian needs a transplant … and I want to be a donor so what can I do,” Jenni Keerie who worked with Mr Wilkinson’s wife for eight years at the Milpara Korumburra Community House told ABC News
Wilkinson and his wife are prominent members of the community. He served as a Baptist pastor and handyman at a local retirement village while his wife taught English.
“You don’t get that often that people are willing to donate a part of their body to save the life of someone else but that is the type of people they were. That is the caliber of people they were and their contributions to the community,” Keerie added.
Australia has been captivated by the unexplained death of the three. Attention has grown after police searched a nearby landfill on Wednesday for a dehydrator that was allegedly used to make the meal.
After questioning the 48-year-old Patterson who served the meal on Sunday, she was released by the police without charges.
“What happened is devastating and I’m grieving too,” Patterson told media in a tearful interview outside her home on Monday.