Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I was five months old when I was given a new heart.. I owe my life to the donor’s family
Transplant survivor, now 30, backs Mirror campaign
THE UK’S first baby heart transplant survivor is backing the Mirror’s donor law campaign – and hoping nine-year-old Max Johnson gets the gift of life.
Kaylee Davidson-olley made medical history at just five months old when she became the youngest patient to receive a donor heart.
She said: “I will be forever grateful to the donor family. It is something really personal and quite moving for me, because he or she is still beating inside me.”
Now 30 years old, Kaylee met Max’s dad Paul and said afterwards: “I know more than anyone the benefit of a transplant.
“When I spoke to Max’s dad, I told him ‘I hope Max gets his new heart as quickly as possible’.
“They are really desperate and he is in critical need.”
The Mirror is calling for a system where people are classed as having agreed to donate their organs after death, unless they opt out. Kaylee said: “I believe the opt-out system is ideal and I am backing the Mirror’s campaign to make that happen.
“When you see Max, that tells you why Theresa May should do it.”
Kaylee, of Chester-le-street, Co Durham, met Paul, 44, at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, where she received her donor heart in 1987. The former shop assistant has spent her life campaigning to get people on the organ donor list.
She has represented the UK in athletics, badminton and 10-pin bowling, and won 4 x 100 metres relay gold at the World Transplant Games in South Africa in 2013.
She said: “I would say to the Prime Minister, ‘change this law as quickly as possible’.
“We are desperate for organs to help children like Max and this needs to be done quickly, because when you look at the figures, it makes a huge difference for all those on the waiting lists for organs.”
There are 6,335 desperately ill Brits on the waiting list for an organ, including 182 children. Another 3,000 need a transplant but are too sick to be on the list. Three die each day waiting for a transplant.
Max, who lives with his family in Winsford, Cheshire, was diagnosed with an enlarged heart in December.
He has been on the urgent transplant list since January this year.
Sign our petition to change the law at mirror.co.uk/lawforlife.