Families of kids awaiting heart transplants ask parents to think about 'tough question'

The parents of two children who are waiting for life saving heart transplants are calling on families to think about donating their organs.

Beatrix Archbold-Adamson, two, from County Durham and three-year-old Evie Green, from Middlesbrough are both being cared for in the same ward at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital as they await news that could transform their futures.

Their parents are asking others to consider the difficult question of whether they would donate their children's organs if they died, in order to save another person.

Beatrix first fell severely ill in May 2022 after she returned from a trip of a lifetime to Disneyworld, Florida. Her family thought she had caught Covid.

At the age of one, Beatrix stopped drinking and had a rash before she went into cardiac arrest.

After going to A&E, a doctor at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead detected a heart murmur. Tests showed one side of her heart was enlarged and not functioning properly.

Surgeons saved her life by performing open heart surgery and the tiny toddler has been supported by a machine known as a Berlin heart ever since.

Beatrix has already spent half her life in hospital, where she lives on a ward attached to tubes which act as her ventricles until she hopefully receives a new heart.

Her parents, Cheryl and Terry, live in hope of a heart transplant but that can only become a reality if those who have lost a child step forward to donate their organs.

Mr Archbold said: "The reality is that, if it was not for that hospital and that machine, Bea would not be here.”

After 12 months in hospital he added: "It feels like we have never done anything else."

Beatrix's mum said: "It's just a rollercoaster. It's a lot of uncertainty. Life as we knew it before has completely gone. Still disbelief really that this has happened and this is what our future is dependent on."

Beatrix's parents lost a baby daughter in 2018 and donated her heart for medical research so they understand the issues surrounding organ donation.

They now encourage other families to speak openly and honestly about their experiences.

Mrs Adamson said: "The big thing I have found comes from that is the pain of the loss never fades, it hasn't gone anywhere but what has come in addition to it is comfort and peace, knowing that you have hopefully helped somebody else."

According to the latest NHS figures, 225 children in the UK are waiting for an organ transplant and 52 of those young patients need a new heart.

Newcastle's Freeman Hospital carries out between 15 and 20 children's heart transplants a year. That figure has remained similar for many years and at the same time as demand is rising.

Also living on the same ward as the Archbold-Adamson family is Chloe Green, who is anxiously waiting for her young daughter, Evie, to be given the news that a heart donor match has been found.

Evie was diagnosed with a heart condition just a few months after her birth after falling ill on 10 March, 2023 with a skin infection. By the next day, she was also having open heart surgery to fit a Berlin heart.

Ms Green is marking her birthday while staying at Evie's side in the Freeman Hospital but the greatest gift of all would be the chance of transplant for her little girl.

She said: "If you were ever in that horrible situation it's thinking about what they can do to give these children extra chance at life and giving their deceased child a legacy to live on in another child. I feel like that would be a wonderful way to give the gift but also honour their memory."

Evie's parents are planning to raise awareness of organ donation at the Sunderland and Boro finals if the teams make it through.

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