Wiltshire parents' plea for organ donation as daughter waits for heart transplant
Watch Verity Wishart's report
The parents of a two-year-old girl from Chippenham awaiting a transplant are pleading for more people to consider organ donation.
Amelia Bolter has been diagnosed with a dilated cardiomyopathy, meaning her heart is unable to pump blood around her body efficiently.
Professionals at Great Ormond Street Hospital have told her parents in order for her to survive, she requires a heart transplant.
Amelia has been warned she could face a wait of up to two years until a donor match is found.
Her mother Jodie Woolford told ITV News West Country how helpless she and her husband feel, as they await a donor, "it's very hard, you think what can I do to take away the pain or to help and there's nothing we can do."
Parents Jodie and Rich have been living with Amelia at Great Ormond Street Hospital for ten months.
"It's horrible to think she thinks this is her home when it's not, her home is miles away."
The couple think there is a lack of awareness around the need for child donors.
"Once they pass away the parents have got to agree to give up a child's organs and they don't. Sometimes it's too much for them to think about at the time, or there's not enough information, and they just want to grieve."
The family are raising money for The Grand Appeal, and The Sick Children’s Trust who they say have been "amazing since day one", and they will all be "forever grateful for saving her life on multiple occasions."
There is an ongoing need for more organ donors of all ages.
Diana Episcopo passed away in 2022, at the age of 84 at the Great Western Hospital and was a proud member of the Organ Donor Register. She has since saved the lives of three people by donating her liver and kidneys.
Diana is the oldest donor that has been referred to the South Central Organ Donation Services Team. She was one of seven patients who donated their organs at the Great Western Hospital in the last year, resulting in 19 patients receiving life-saving transplants.
Her daughter Joanne says despite her grief, she is very proud.
"Nobody wants to lose someone they love so the fact that there are three families that don't have to go through that - that makes it all totally worth it. Hearing and seeing people that have benefitted from the donation is just amazing", she said.
Amelia's parents hope by opening up the conversation and encouraging more people to join the organ donor register, more lives like Amelia's can be saved.
"We would just cherish whoever donated Amelia a heart we would cherish those moments and make sure that person lives through Amelia, we would take them everywhere with us", said her mum Jodie.