BEAT THAT!
Mirror’s organ donor law hero Max celebrates as he turns a teenager at 13
MAX Johnson celebrated his 13th birthday with a message of hope for children waiting for a transplant.
The schoolboy was given a hooded top bearing the logo “‘powered by a donor heart”.
It came from the Heart and Lung Transplant Association at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, where he received his new heart at the age of nine.
Max, of Winsford, Cheshire,
raised hundreds of pounds for the charity after his bike was stolen in November.
Donors came forward to buy a replacement – but the Mirror arranged for Halfords to deliver a new one, so money raised was given to charity instead.
His mum Emma, 51, said yesterday he is having to isolate with Covid restrictions in place.
But she said: “His birthday is a real milestone after everything he has been through.” Max, who
turned 13 on Sunday, enjoyed a drive- thru trip to McDonald’s with his mum, civil servant dad Paul, 48, and brother Harry, 15.
He said: “I love my top and I had a really good day.
“When my cake came out, they were singing, ‘Happy birthday’. It was great to see the messages about the law
chang e .” Max received the heart of Keira Ball, who died aged nine in a car accident near her home in Barnstaple, Devon.
Parents Joe and Loanna joined Max and his family in raising awareness of organ donation.
They backed the Mirror fight for the new law in England in
which people are understood to be a donor unless they opt out.
Introduced in May last year, Max and Keira’s Law is expected to save hundreds of lives a year. There are 193 children waiting for a transplant across the UK.
Organ donor campaigner Phil Walton wrote on Twitter : “Thank you, Max. You and Keira have inspired everything I’ve done for the last two years.”
Birthday is a milestone after what he’s been through
MUM EMMA JOHNSON ON HAPPY CELEBRATIONS