Organ donors: Wiltshire mum's plea to turn 'sorrow into hope'

Two-year-old Amelia is waiting for a heart transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital

The mother of a two-year-old girl who needs a heart transplant is asking people to help turn "sorrow to hope" and become an organ donor.

Jodie's daughter Amelia, from Chippenham, is in hospital indefinitely while they wait for a compatible heart.

She said a donation means "life springs from death, sorrow turns to hope, and a terrible loss becomes a gift".

Amelia is part of a national NHS campaign to highlight the number of children waiting for a transplant.

The campaign has seen Amelia - and 15 other children - made into handmade dolls that have been placed across the country.

Amelia's doll is in Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where she is currently receiving treatment and is connected to a machine that supports her failing heart.

It is hoped that the dolls will inspire more parents and families to consider adding themselves and their children onto the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Amelia's doll is in Great Ormond Street Hospital

Jodie said organ donation is "so important" as it gives a child a "gift of life and be able to go home with family".

The mum-of-two added: "I don't know when we'll be home.

"There's a saying we like to say and it's without the organ donor there is no story, no hope, no transplant, but when there is an organ donor, life springs from death, sorrow turns to hope, and a terrible loss becomes a gift.

"If you are willing to accept an organ from someone else to save yours or someone you love's life then why not donate your organs once you pass."

'Challenging, but cracking on'

Amelia was born with a heart condition, arriving nine weeks early, but she was doing well before her health deteriorated in Summer 2022 when she was just one-year-old.

Jodie initially thought it was an ear infection, but Amelia was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, svt and tachycardia.

Jodie says her daughter Amelia is a typcial two-year-old in many ways

She explained Amelia was listed for a heart transplant in the autumn and a few weeks later was given a Berlin heart - a device that supports a child in severe heart failure.

"She is doing ok and is a typical nearly three-year-old in some ways, always on the go," she said. "We arrived with a one and a half year old and I was 11 weeks pregnant. Now I have a nearly three-year-old and very nearly one-year-old, Blossom.

"It is challenging but we're ok, we're cracking on each day, the girls keep me busy and what else can we do."

Jodie added: "If she goes down to intensive care then I will say to her 'do you want to go back home?' and she will say yes. I ask 'do you want to go to bear ward?' and she will say yes.

"She thinks bear ward is our home."

Ralph, from Essex, is another one of the children taking part in the Waiting to Live campaign

Three sites across Bristol are hosting the 'Waiting to Live' dolls, each representing a child on the waiting list. The sites are: University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and NHS Blood and Transplant's Filton and Stoke Gifford centres.

Joanna Woodland, paediatric renal clinical nurse specialist at UHBW, said: "It is inspiring to see the happiness in the patients we care for and their families when they are told an organ has been found for them and knowing the future possibilities, and opportunities this will provide for them."

Angie Scales, lead nurse for paediatric organ donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, added: "When organ donation becomes a possibility, it is often in very sudden or unexpected circumstances.

"When families have already had the opportunity to consider organ donation previously or know already it is something they support, it makes a difficult situation that bit easier."

Jodie added: "We just want parents to think about other options if your child sadly does pass. Your child could save nine other childrens' lives that are waiting.

"But I do not think people, parents or guardians talk about it much because they do not want to think about their child passing away."