Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
All I want for Xmas is a new heart
Brave Harry, 4, needs a lifesaving transplant
THE parents of a sick boy of four who needs a new heart have issued a Christmas appeal for a donor.
Harry Lee’s desperate mum Claire, 39, of Stourbridge, West Mids, said: “It would be the greatest gift of all.”
let myself do that before. I remember going back to my room and screaming uncontrollably. When Harry arrived back in intensive care the anaesthetist was in tears. They didn’t expect Harry to make it.” Days after Harry returned to the ward in late November, he reached a turning
point. Though still sedated, he heard his favourite DVD playing and began waving his arm in time to the music.
His recovery quickly gathered pace. He was soon propped up in bed reading the hundreds of Christmas cards he received from members of a charity called Little Hearts Matter, which helps youngsters with half a heart and their families.
It has supported Harry’s family since his diagnosis and this year Claire is backing its Christmas campaign to Wrap a Blanket of care and support around other families. She said: “Last year, I found out for myself how it feels to see that happiness on your child’s face when they have been through so much.
“It really does mean so much to families, I can’t describe it.”
Though Harry made it home for Christmas, he had been too ill to start rehabilitation after his stroke. He had to relearn how to smile, eat, speak clearly and sit unaided. He also had to be strapped into a special frame to help him stand and took his first steps with a walking frame only in June.
Harry is now walking with a stick, though he still needs to be supported by his mum and struggles to keep pace with his little sister.
As donor organs are in such short supply, especially for children, Harry had a three-day assessment at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle to see if he was fit enough for a transplant.
Claire, who worked as a steel company administrator until she quit to look after her son, said: “Harry’s lungs aren’t great, at one stage we feared that could rule him out of a transplant. They also had to check his liver and his veins.
“It was such a huge relief to discover his lungs were OK, but they said at the moment 87% of the donor pool would be ruled out because Harry’s antibody count was so high.”
From next spring it is hoped there will be more organs available thanks to Max and Keira’s Law, which came about after a campaign by the Mirror that will make everyone a donor unless they opt out.
It is named after Max Johnson, 11, of Winsford, Cheshire, and his heart donor Keira Ball, who died aged nine after a car accident near her home in Barnstaple, Devon, in 2017.
For information go to organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 303 2094.
You can support the Little Hearts Matter Christmas appeal on visufund. co.uk/lhm-wrap-a-blanket
He could face a long wait and he doesn’t have time for that
CLAIRE LEE MUM ON SON’S HEART ORDEAL