'Everyone should be on the donor list'

Rich Bolter, Jodie Woolford, Amelia (R) and Blossom (L) are "allowed to be a normal family" after Amelia got a heart transplant

A family whose three-year-old daughter received a heart transplant have said "everyone should be donor list".

Amelia, from Chippenham in Wiltshire, was rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital in June 2022 after a suspected ear infection turned out to be a sign of heart failure.

The family spent the next 18 months in hospital waiting for a transplant, with Amelia having a successful operation in April this year.

Amelia's mother Jodie Woolford said: "There’s not much awareness on children organ donors, because parents don’t want to think about it."

'Not enough information'

Ms Woolford said she thinks the difficulty comes as most parents are faced with the donation decision when their child has just passed away.

"Their emotions are all high because they’ve just lost their child and they’ve got to think about donating their child's organs," she said.

"They can’t think that, so some of them just say 'no' because they don’t have enough information."

Amelia's father Rich Bolter, who suffered from anxiety attacks while they awaited a transplant, said: "There's not many kids that die that young, and with the blood type, blood tissue and with the right size as well, it was always going to be a small chance of her [Amelia] getting one."

Ms Woolford said Amelia had received a "generous gift"

Speaking to the BBC, the couple said they have been told the age and the gender of the child that donated their organ to Amelia.

Ms Woolford said: "Our child is alive and has been saved by this generous gift.

"We wrote a letter to the family and they have requested an audio of the heartbeat, which is lovely," she added.

Amelia's parents said life in the hospital now feels like "a distant memory".

"We're allowed to be a normal family now," Ms Woolford said. "Just being able to walk out your front door and just take her for an ice cream - I can't believe it."

At the end of the stay at Great Ormond Street Hospital there came another important moment for the family.

Mr Bolter said: "I actually proposed to Jodie on the last day of hospital life - I thought we've been on this journey together and it's made us stronger than ever."