Parents of boy with cancer join NHS organ donor campaign

Katie and Graham Tatham's son Ralph needs the transplant as part of his treatment for liver cancer

The parents of a three-year-old boy who needs a multi-organ transplant said it was "torture" waiting for a donor.

Katie and Graham Tatham's son Ralph needs the transplant as part of his treatment for liver cancer.

The London couple are urging others to join the organ donor register as part of a new national campaign led by NHS Blood and Transplant.

Figures show 52% of families gave consent for their child's organs to be donated in 2021-22.

That resulted in 40 organ donors under the age of 18 - there are 243 children currently waiting for a transplant.

The Consider This campaign, in partnership with marketing agency Wunderman Thompson, hopes to raise awareness of opting into organ donation.

Mr and Mrs Tatham said in a statement: "To hear your child has cancer and watch them go through cancer treatment is the worst thing you could ever imagine.

"Having your child be on the list for an organ transplant and then waiting each day in hope for a call is torture.

"In our case, because Ralph has cancer, we don't have that much time, so each day that the call doesn't happen, we lose a little bit of hope that it will come in time.

"It's also very hard that the only thing that can save your child is another child's organs - that is a really difficult thing to process."

• Young people wait longer for liver transplants

• 'Without organ donations I wouldn't be competing'

• Funding for more black and Asian blood donors

Angie Scales, NHS Blood and Transplant lead nurse for paediatric donation, said: "We ask that families take a moment today to consider and confirm their support for organ donation, so it is not something you have to consider and discuss for the first time should the unthinkable happen."

She said with more people confirming their support for organ donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register, they hoped to be able to "save more lives of children like Ralph, both today and in the future".

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