Bias must end

James, 12, thrilled at new heart Queen thanks kind volunteers

Black Lives Matter. That should go without saying, of course.

Yet it is an indictment of our society that it still needs to be said by protesters in Britain and all over the world following George Floyd’s death.

Even in this country, police are more than twice as likely to have used force in deaths involving those from BAME groups.

Sabrina Dhowre Elba tells us black people face routine racism every day.

It is what soccer legend John Barnes calls “unconscious bias”.

And racism will only end in this country and every other when we all become fully conscious of it.

James, 12, is one of only 20 patients given a new heart since the entire focus of the NHS turned to stemming the virus outbreak.

The lad was able to go home a fortnight ago after a remarkable recovery from his eight-hour op – having spent eight months attached to a mechanical heart.

Dad Graham said: “It’s amazing the NHS was able to give James a transplant despite Covid.

“He’s an inspiration. I can’t put into words how proud we are.”

SURREAL

Mum Catherine, a neurology nurse, said: “It’s been an incredible journey, and surreal my own son being so poorly in the pandemic.”

Coronavirus restrictions meant only Catherine, 44, could be with James at Great Ormond Street, while Graham and brother Thom, 14, waited nervously at home.

They were tested for Covid before the op could go ahead and were kept isolated together.

And it was 17 days before the family could be reunited, after keeping in touch on FaceTime.

Finance officer Graham, 47, said: “It was amazing just to hear James’s voice after the operation.

“I couldn’t understand what he said because he was still slurry after surgery, but it was just good to hear him. He’d gone into theatre not long after midnight – when I hadn’t heard anything by 7am I began to worry. Thankfully he was taken back on the ICU at 8.30.”

James’s heart problems were discovered just over a year ago in a routine check-up for ADHD.

The nurse spotted a high pulse, and tests showed his heart racing at up to 230 beat per minute – as much as four times normal.

Catherine, of Peacehaven, East Sussex, said: “James sat there as if nothing was wrong but Graham and I just thought, ‘This is serious’.

“We had gene testing to see if something ran in the family but nothing showed. We might never know why it happened.” Doctors

HELPING OUT

Great Ormond Street to have a mechanical heart pump fitted.

He was allowed home for Christmas but in January developed at Evelina London Children’s an infection and was Hospital used put on the urgent transplant heat to fix James’s list. arrhythmias. In April he got the

But last July his call for a new heart – energy levels but, agonisingly, it slumped and he turned out not to be a was rushed to match. Then he got a hospital after he second call. began vomiting. Catherine said: “James

Catherine said: “I did was quite frightened to go something I tell REUNITED Family together into hospital because of my patients never at home again after surgery the virus but the staff to do – I googled were amazing.” the symptoms. I said to Graham, Overwhelmed by the generosity ‘I think he has heart failure.’ He of James’s donor, the family have said, ‘He can’t have, he’s just 11’.” agreed that their son’s heart Doctors confirmed her diagnosis. valves, which were still healthy,

James spent two months at the should go to help other patients. Evelina before transferring to They welcome Max and Keira’s Law, brought in after a campaign by our sister paper, the Daily Mirror. It requires people to opt out of organ donation rather than in, but does not apply to children.

Now the family has appealed for parents to discuss the question of child organ donation. Catherine said: “It’s a hard conversation.

“But imagine if something happened to the child you gave birth to, but their heart could go on beating in someone else’s body? They can live on, in a way.”

THE Queen has praised Brits who “give themselves so freely... in the service of others,” as Volunteers’ Week ends.

To mark the occasion, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge released a new photograph of Prince William with children Prince George, six, and Princess Charlotte, five, delivering food parcels to locals near their Norfolk home last month.

The 94-year-old monarch said: “It is inspiring to reflect on the many thousands of people, who through their acts of generosity and kindness, have achieved so much for the greater good.”

The British Heart Foundation has a coronavirus hub for people with heart and circulatory disease at bhf.org.uk/informationsupport

Wills and kids