PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE
Baby has just weeks to find a heart donor
A COUPLE have made a desperate plea for a heart donor to save their sick baby’s life.
Carter Cookson will die in weeks without one. Dad Chris said: “Every day is a day less to find a heart.”
CHRIS and Sarah Cookson know all too well each day that passes without a heart transplant for their sick son Carter takes them closer to the unthinkable.
And the couple have made an emotional appeal to find a new organ in less than five weeks, which is how long doctors warn he will survive if nothing comes forward.
They also joined the Mirror’s Change the Law for Life campaign that will make everyone a potential donor unless they choose to opt out.
But they are also acutely aware that as tiny Carter, who is 17 days old today, will need the heart from a child
CHRIS COOKSON DAD OF POORLY CARTER
due to size, that another family will suffer tragedy. Chris and Sarah have already lost one son, Charlie, at two and a half and are praying tragedy will not strike twice.
Chris, 40, said: “If our prayers are not answered I won’t get to take him home and do what every daddy wants to do: simply raise a son the best he can.
“Every day that goes by is a day less I have to find a heart for my son.”
Urging others to back our campaign, the John Lewis worker added: “What I have learnt over the last two weeks has brought to my mind the importance of organ donation, how many lives could be saved if the law was different. Unless you are in a position when a loved one’s life depends on an organ donor, I don’t think you will understand how important it is to make changes to ensure we have a greater chance of saving lives in the future. “I can only hope anyone reading this never goes through what I’m going through right now.” Dance teacher Sarah, 44, said: “It’s just such a hard message for us to put out. “For what we call a miracle to happen, someone else will have to go through something terrible to give us that gift. No parent in either set of circumstances wants to be there.”
The couple, of South Shields, Tyneside, have been keeping a vigil at their son’s bedside in Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital since he was born on Boxing Day with severe damage to the left side of his heart.
He suffered three cardiac arrests within hours of his birth and is now hooked up to a machine to pump blood around his body.
Chris and Sarah’s son Charlie died in 2013 after being born with a condition that compromised his immune system. It was unrelated to Carter’s illness. The couple have since set up a charity in his name which has helped 59 families of sick children.
But now they need assistance of their own to prevent them having to suffer the loss of another child.
NHS Blood and Transplant, responsible for allocating donated organs in the UK, say there are eight babies under 24 months on the active waiting list for a heart.
The body’s lead nurse for paediatric donation, Angie Scales, said: “We hope Carter gets the heart transplant he so desperately needs.
“Hearts need to be matched by size
Every day that goes by is a day less I have to find a heart for my son
for a successful transplant. For many young children, their only hope is to receive one from another young child.
“Losing a child is a tragedy, but we know many parents take comfort in saving lives through organ donation.
“There are many children alive today thanks to parents making that decision.
“But sadly, hundreds of adults and children die every year due to the shortage of donated organs. We urge people to join the NHS Donor Register.”
South Shields Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck highlighted Carter’s case in the Commons on Wednesday. In response, Theresa May spoke about the new opt-out organ donation system, due to come in next year.
It will be named Max and Keira’s Law in honour of Mirror campaign boy Max Johnson, 10, and his heart donor Keira Ball, nine. Her dad Joe and mum Loanna decided to pass on her organs when she died after a car accident near her home at Barnstaple, Devon, in July 2017.
The move helped to save or transform the lives of four others.
Her parents set up the charity Inspired by Keira, which give aid to sick children and their families.
Joe and Loanna played a key role in getting Geoffrey Robinson MP’s private members’ bill through Parliament after the Mirror told their story last February, just days before the vote on passing it into law.
The law was due to go forward for royal assent before Christmas. Two suggested amendments mean it will now go before the Lords again within weeks.
Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price said: “I am four-square behind this, along with Theresa May. We will work on those amendments though we know the timetable is tight.
“If there are any problems in this session, we will find a way of dealing with it. I am not going to let anything stand in its way now.”
Dan Jarvis, the Labour MP who helped guide the bill through the Commons, praised the Government’s decision to name it Max and Keira’s Law.
He said: “This Bill will save lives and give hope to the thousands around our country who are desperately waiting for an organ transplant.”
There will be a £20million Department of Health publicity drive to explain what the law will mean once it is in place.
There are currently 6,096 people on the active transplant waiting list, including 187 children.