Four-year-old boy from Preston 'excited' for first Christmas at home after heart transplant
ITV Granada Reports correspondent Andy Bonner met with Freddie and his parents as they prepare his first full Christmas at home after the transplant.
A four-year-old boy says he is "excited" to celebrate his first full Christmas at home after having a heart transplant.Freddie Wiles spent last year's festive period in intensive care recovering from the life-saving operation. Before that, he was in hospital waiting for a donor and the year before that the the pandemic impacted his Christmas.
His mum, Harriet, said: "We've been away from home for the past two years - it's been very different. Although the hospitals make Christmas very special and magical, it's just not the same as being at home with your family and your friends and being able to celebrate how you want to celebrate them."
She continued to say: "Pre-transplant, Freddie struggled with a lot. Even breathing. He literally just suffered greatly. It was really sad to watch.
"But now this transplant's giving him a completely new lease of life. It's just lovely to see him doing what normal children his age should be doing."
Freddie's mum and dad, from Preston, Lancashire, are now encouraging people to talk about organ donation in young people because "children are not automatically enrolled on the organ donation register."
Freddie was part of the Waiting to Live campaign which saw hundreds of handmade dolls, based on children waiting for an organ donor, placed across the UK.
"If you scan the QR code, it comes with his story. It definitely made a difference", Freddie's dad, Andrew, said.
The campaign aimed to highlight the hundreds of under 18-year-olds on the waiting list for a transplant, including 16 dolls linked to specific children sharing their stories.
Nine of the children who had a doll made to represent them have now received their transplant, while seven youngsters remaining on the waiting list another year on.
"We're very grateful be able to have this Christmas at home", Harriet said. "I don't think there were enough words to express just how grateful we are.
"To give Freddie that chance of life. It's the best thing we could have ever hoped for."
More than 7,900 people in the UK, including 280 children, face this Christmas waiting for an organ transplant, according to the NHS.
If organ donation is possible, parents will be asked to make a decision as part of their child’s end of life care.
Anthony Clarkson, Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “For many children on the transplant waiting list, their only hope is the parents of another child saying 'yes' to organ donation at a time of immense sadness and personal grief.
“Losing a child is tragic and such a difficult time, which is why we’re asking parents to think about what they might do around organ donation now.
"Families tell us that knowing their child has helped other people and another family is not facing the loss of a child too can be comforting.
“We urge parents to think and talk about organ donation for themselves and their children today. Your decision could help save lives.”
To support donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk
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