Max’s day of hope
MP will put plight of waiting heart boy directly to the PM
TOMORROW could bring new hope for The Mirror’s transplant poster boy Max Johnson – when his case is raised in the House of Commons.
Max has waited six months for a new heart and Labour MP Dan Jarvis will put the nine-year-old’s plight to PM Theresa May as Max’s mum Emma and brother Harry, 12, watch from the public gallery.
The Mirror aims to boost the number of organ donors through its Change The Law for Life campaign.
We want the Government to legislate so people are assumed to be donors unless they opt out. MPs will debate the issue on Thursday.
Mr Jarvis said of Max: “He is a truly inspiring young boy who deserves every chance. There are 6,400 people across the UK like Max in need of transplants.
“A change in the law will increase the number of potential donors available.”
He added: “I’m supporting the Mirror campaign and will ask the Prime Minister directly if she will change the law to save people like Max.” The brave schoolboy of Winsford, Cheshire, has an enlarged heart. A pump keeps him alive.
He has been six months in Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, waiting for a heart. “I would say to Mrs May, ‘Please do this straight away’,” he said.
Over the past five years, there has been a 20% rise in yearly transplants, reaching a record 4,753 in 2016/17.
The number of registered donors has hit 23.6 million, up by 4.9 million in five years. More than a third are now on the register. But one in 10 families still refuse to release organs of loved ones on the NHS list because they have not discussed their wishes in advance. A serious shortage of donors remains. Some 457 people died last year on the waiting list. Almost 9,000 have now signed our petition calling for a change in the law, while 1,000 more signed the donor register following our first story on Max.
Go to www.organdonation.nhs.uk, or sign our petition at mirror.co.uk/donor.
Last year in Wales the rate of families consenting to a transplant after a loved one died rose from 49% to 59%. Across the UK it was 58% to 62%.