Daily Mirror

SAVE THEM FROM DEATH ROW

Heart transplant boy Max’s mum joins pleas for donor law change

- BY NICOLA BARTLETT

MAX Johnson’s mum Emma has demanded an end to needless deaths on organ donor waiting lists.

She said: “Last year, 460 organs were not used due to lack of consent.” Emma spoke as one Labour MP branded the waiting lists “death row”.

WITH her own son Max’s life saved by a heart transplant, Emma Johnson knows only too well how vital organ donors are.

And the 47-year-old yesterday urged the Government to end the needless deaths of patients on waiting lists by changing the law to the opt-out system of donation, championed by the Mirror.

In an emotional speech to the Labour Party conference in Brighton, she also praised the dedicated NHS staff who cared for nine-year-old Max.

Emma spoke after veteran MP Geoffrey Robinson branded the transplant waiting list “death row”.

She said: “Last year 470 people, including 14 children, died while on the transplant list or died after they had been taken off the list because they had become too ill for surgery.

“In the same period, 460 organs suitable for transplant were not used because of lack of consent.” Speaking about Mirror campaign boy Max’s struggle before his life-saving organ swap last month, Emma, of Winsford, Cheshire, said: “His heart had become so large it was no longer able to pump the blood around his body effectivel­y.

“We were told that our son had a 33% chance of getting better, a 33% chance of requiring a heart transplant and a 33% chance of passing away. Our world was turned upside down.”

General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union Mark Serwotka also had his life saved by a heart transplant after he was struck down by a mystery virus in 2010.

He became so ill he was on the donor critical list for more than 100 days with irreparabl­e coronary damage, not knowing if he would be saved.

Mr Serwotka told how he watched fellow patients die during his time at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, before finally getting a new heart last December. He said: “My story will convince anyone who’s not convinced this can happen to anybody. I was rushed into hospital with a heart rate of 220 beats a minute.

“I have met many people who have died waiting for a transplant. That’s what this campaign is really about.”

Speaking about Mr Serwotka’s ordeal, Coventry North West MP Mr Robinson told delegates: “That is 100 days on death row waiting to see if you are going to get a reprieve or not.

“We have to make sure that we change the law so it is possible to save people whose lives are lost needlessly due to the lack of organs.”

He also praised our Change the Law for Life campaign which is calling for everyone to be considered donors

I have met many who have died waiting for transplant MARK SERWOTKA ON HIS TIME IN HOSPITAL Our son had a 33% chance of passing away. Our world was turned upside down EMMA ON MOMENT DOCTORS TOLD THEM MAX WAS SERIOUSLY ILL

unless they specifical­ly ask not to be. Mr Robinson added: “I want to thank the Mirror for their campaign in the finest traditions of the paper.

“Change the Law for Life is very aptly named. It is a very simple change. But it will save hundreds of lives.”

He has a Private Members’ Bill to push for the new law, which goes before Parliament next February.

The MP told a meeting of supporters at the Mirror Change the Law for Life event it would save around 500 lives a year.

There were tears in the audience as Patricia Carroll revealed her daughter Natalie died aged 38 in 2014 while waiting for a new pancreas and kidney after her organs were damaged by Type 1 Diabetes. The 65-year-old organ donation campaigner, of Thurrock, Essex, said: “We gave our consent to take her organs. Her heart valves were given to a baby girl. Six years later, I was back on the same ward and became a live donor, giving my kidney to an amazing young man called Joe, who was 22 and on dialysis.

“With this change in the law, more lives could be changed forever.” Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner revealed she had a row with husband Mark when he said he would not be an organ donor. “I told him, ‘You would accept one, how can you not donate?’” she said. The British Medical Associatio­n’s Dr Chaand Nagpaul told the conference: “Three people die every day while waiting for an organ.”

More than 12,000 have backed our petition calling for the law to change.

Go to organdonat­ion.nhs.uk, or sign our petition at mirror.co.uk/donor.

 ??  ?? GOOD DAY BAD DAY TWEET OF THE DAY WICKED WHISPER
GOOD DAY BAD DAY TWEET OF THE DAY WICKED WHISPER
 ??  ?? TRAGIC Patricia, who lost her daughter
TRAGIC Patricia, who lost her daughter
 ??  ?? SELFLESS With Joe who has her kidney
SELFLESS With Joe who has her kidney
 ??  ?? SAVED Max had transplant
SAVED Max had transplant
 ??  ?? MOVING SPEECH Emma at conference yesterday JOY With Max who had heart transplant
MOVING SPEECH Emma at conference yesterday JOY With Max who had heart transplant

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