Carter Cookson's parents say son's death highlights 'importance of organ donation'
The parents of Carter Cookson, the three-week-old baby who died in January after a desperate appeal to find him a new heart failed, say his death underlines the "importance of organ donation".
Speaking after a Newcastle coroner concluded that Carter had died as a result of natural causes, Chris and Sarah Cookson said they “never had a chance from the start” and “the only thing that would have given him a fighting chance would have been a heart”.
Watch Kris Jepson's report here:
Carter was born prematurely on Boxing Day last year, but within hours fell seriously ill. He died 25 days later at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.
The coroner, Karen Dilks, told Carter’s parents that genetic tests had been unable to identify the exact cause of death, but that their son had suffered a “sudden, catastrophic event” that likely led to “severe damage of the heart”.
Pathologist, Dr Fraser Charlton, told the inquest it was not possible to definitively say what caused Carter’s death.
He said examinations of the baby's heart suggested it had been irreversibly damaged at or just after birth and that there were signs he had low blood pressure and a reduced flow of blood to the organ.
He told the hearing that the damage was so extensive, there was "nothing else that could have been done" to treat Charlie, unless he had had a transplant.
Speaking after the verdict, Chris Cookson said:
Carter's mother Sarah added:
To survive every day you put it in a box in your head and then you’ve got to open it again… The only thing that would have given him a fighting chance would have been a new heart. The media, the publicity… I think there is hopefully some little boys and girls who might have survived because of the awareness we did for our Carter.
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Carter’s heart was supported by a special machine called an ECMO (extra corporeal membrane oxygenation) which helped pump blood around his body, but carried a high risk of blood clots and infection.
Paediatric intensive care consultant Yamuna Thiru said Carter's heart function never recovered and the only way to save his life would be through transplantation of a new heart.
She said his body was to weak to survive when the Ecmo needed to be changed, due to clotting. She said "unfortunately a donor heart didn't become available in the last 24 hours before the disconnection of the Ecmo machine."
The coroner concluded there had been “some complication” involving the ECMO, “which actually prolonged his life on the one hand, but contributed to his death on the other”.
Hundreds of people attended Carter’s funeral in South Shields, where mourners were encouraged to wear blue in tribute.
Their appeal to find a new heart was shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media. The prime minister discussed his case and the need for more organ donors in parliament.
The couple had already lost their first son, Charlie, in 2013 when he was just two-and-a-half years old. Charlie died from an undiagnosed condition, not related to Carter’s, which affected his muscular and immune systems.
Speaking in January, Sarah Cookson told ITV News:
His parents established The Charlie Cookson Foundation in 2013, which helped support families with terminally ill-children.
Since Carter's passing, they have renamed it the Charlie and Carter Foundation.