Lottie was given just two weeks to live... seven years on, she has won 5 transplant games medals
Girl saved by liver donor prepares to compete again
LOTTIE Bryon Edmond is living proof of how organ donors can transform lives as she prepares to take part in another British Transplant Games.
The seven-year-old was saved by a new liver just four weeks after she was born, seven weeks premature with multiple organ failure.
Since then she has gone on to win five medals at the Mirror-backed Games, which open again today across Birmingham.
Lottie was the smallest person in the world to have a liver transplant.
She spent her first two weeks in a Bristol baby unit before being moved to Birmingham Children’s Hospital with parents Julie and Chris.
Chris, of Torquay, Devon, said: “It was determined the problem was her liver. She was given two weeks to live unless she had a transplant.
BEAUTIFUL
“At first we were told a suitable liver became available every two and a half months and no one in the world had successfully transplanted into a child so tiny. She weighed four pounds.
“Lottie stayed with us for that extra day, on day 15 a liver became available.
“Now, at just over seven years old, you would never know the journey she took at Birmingham Children’s Hospital those years ago.
“Lottie is a gentle, kind, beautiful, clever girl and a credit to the donor and their family. She took part in her first British Transplant Games aged three, winning a tug of war medal.
“She has won five medals and is looking forward to competing again.”
More than 850 transplant recipients will take part in Games, which aim to change attitudes on organ donation.
Ministers launched a public consultation on changing to an “opt out” donor system after the Mirror’s successful Change the Law for Life campaign. It means everyone is considered a potential donor unless they state otherwise.