MAX JOHNSON

Child Of Courage

Eight-year-old heart transplant patient was instrumental in changing organ donation rules. It’s estimated that Max’s Law will save up to 700 lives a year

MAX was eight when he was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a crippling disease that affects the heart muscle.

Doctors implanted an electric pump to keep him alive in the short term, but told his parents he would die without a transplant.

As Max deteriorated, he was placed on the transplant list at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. Max was on the list from January until August 2017. During that time he decided to share his story and support a campaign in favour of an opt-out donation system, so consent to donate organs is presumed.

Dad Paul, 45, from Cheshire, says: “To him, it’s a black and white viewpoint. His opinion was ‘why wouldn’t I want to help?’”.

By August, Max was desperately ill. Mum, Emma, 48, adds: “His heart was so enlarged you could see it beating through his chest.”

Then they were told that a heart was available. Keira Ball, nine, had died in a crash that left her mother seriously injured. Her father gave consent for her heart to be donated.

Max had his lifesaving transplant last August and has continued to campaign. In August, Prime Minister Theresa May declared that Max’s Law will be on the statute books by 2020. She told him: “When I read your inspirational story, I knew I had to act to change the organ donation rules.”