Family's 'dream' day after years in hospital

A family have enjoyed their first "dream" day out in years after their daughter received a life-saving heart transplant.

Jodie Woolford and Rich Bolter, from Chippenham in Wiltshire, spent about two years in hospital with Amelia before she underwent surgery in April.

Ms Woolford said it was a "relief" to have Amelia, three, back at home and be able to take her to Bristol Zoo Project as her first outdoor treat.

"But then there's the other end where the parents [of the donor] have sadly lost their child. It's just different emotions," she said.

Mr Bolter said it is nice to finally be able to watch his daughter "being happy"

During their long stay at Great Ormand Street Hospital, Ms Woolford said she never thought they would one day be able to enjoy an "exciting" day out as a family-of-four.

"Doing this as a family-of-four is just, wow. It's weird and exciting," she said.

"It's a dream come true."

Mr Bolter said it was nice to see this "new side" of Amelia, being "happy and making the most of her life".

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

Doctors told the family that Amelia was severely ill and she had to remain in the hospital, waiting for a donor. They were warned this could take two years, if it happened at all.

'Different emotions'

Now she has had the transplant, her family say they never know whether to feel "happy or sad".

"Your child is saved, but then on the other hand you're sad, because we know what it took to get that heart - another child had to pass, another family had to lose their little one," she added.

The family has previously urged more people to sign up to the donor register.

"There’s not much awareness on children organ donors, because parents don’t want to think about it," she previously said.

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 for 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."