Trinity’s 10 out of 10 for organ donors
LIVER transplant patient Trinity Walters has just reached her tenth birthday.
The brave youngster, who received her transplant when she was just a few weeks old, is now encouraging others to become an organ donor.
In the last month, 90 people from Nottinghamshire have been waiting for an organ transplant.
Over the last five years, 32 people from the county have died while waiting for an organ.
Trinity’s mum, Leonna Walters, recalls the moment she was told her daughter needed an “urgent transplant”.
She said: “We noticed she was jaundiced, which can be normal for a baby – except she was getting worse and worse.
“We took her to Kings Mill Hospital and it came back her liver was not working correctly.
“She was my first child and now they were saying she is very ill. It was a whirlwind.
“We were told that Trinity’s liver was too badly damaged and there was nothing they could do to repair it. “She needed an urgent transplant.” Leonna emphasised the difficulty in finding a new liver because Trinity weighed just 4lbs.
Finding a liver so small took 22 days. Trinity was having daily transfusions and, her mum said, had “pipes everywhere”.
She was eventually treated at a specialist liver unit at University Hospital Birmingham.
Leonna said: “During the operation she was given a whole transfusion and it changed her blood type to match the liver.
“Before this we never really thought about the donor register – my husband filled out our cards while we were at the hospital and it was that same afternoon that the notification came.
“It’s so important to think about donating organs to people who are desperate for them and whose life might depend on them.”
Trinity, who attends Kirkstead Junior Academy in Pinxton, came through the procedure well and, despite her ongoing health issues, has now become an ambassador for organ donation at her school.
She said: “Everyone who was a donor and all of my doctors have done their best to help me.
“That’s why I don’t let my problems get in the way even though I bring medicines to school and an Epipen because I have lots of allergies.”
Trinity has also held an assembly on the importance of donation.
Head teacher Karen Slater said: “She is such an inspiration to all of us and truly reflects the ethos we all hold dear.
“We want to help her to spread the message of registering as an organ donor so that more people are given the gift of health as she was.”
Trinity hopes one day to become an artist and an astronomer.