Norfolk parents hear son's heartbeat three years after his death

Kitt Blake's mother listening to her son's heartbeat through a stethoscope three years after he died

The parents of an organ donor have been able to hear their son's heartbeat three years after he died.

The family of 30-year-old Kitt Blake, from near Norwich, Norfolk, met the man who received his heart following an organ transplant.

They listened to it beat through a stethoscope when they met Tim Head, 64, near Wymondham.

Mr Blake died in the spring of 2020, with four of his organs being donated to help others.

"It's given me a little bit of strength," said Mr Blake's mother, Jane.

"To think Kitt's helped Tim and that his life is so different now to how it was, because he was so poorly, is marvellous."

Kitt Blake was not on the donor register but his family consented to his organs being used after talking to a specialist nurse

Mr Head, from Northamptonshire, received Mr Blake's heart after he was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy - a disease that weakens the walls of the heart, meaning it cannot contract properly.

Before the transplant he had been ill for five years and admitted he had "wanted to die" as he "had no life".

He said meeting Mr Blake's family was a "very emotional" moment.

"It's a hard thing to take in. I'm looking at them knowing I've got their boy's heart.

"Not a day goes by where I don't think about what I've been through and how the other family are coping."

When Mr Blake died he had not been on the donor register but his family consented to his organs being used to help others after talking to a specialist nurse.

Natalie Ashley, an organ donation nurse, is urging potential donors to join the national register

According to NHS Blood and Transplant, 1,643 people in the UK have received a transplant in the past six months, but 7,219 remain on a waiting list.

Today marks the start of Organ Donation Week, which hopes to get 25,000 new organ donors added to the national register.

Natalie Ashley, a specialist organ donation nurse at the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital, said: "We really urge people, if they support donation that they register that decision on the donor register.

"But also, that they speak to their family to let them know that that would be what they want."

Mr Head says since receiving Kitt Blake's heart he now led "a normal life"

Last year 439 patients died waiting for a transplant. A further 732 patients were removed from the transplant list due to deteriorating health.

"I enjoy life now, it's fantastic," Mr Head added.

"I work full-time and I'm just leading a normal life now."