Birthday sorrow and celebration

LITTLE CHARLIE DOUTHWAITE’S PARENTS MARK DAY HE WOULD HAVE BEEN ONE

A BABY’S first birthday is always a special day for their loving parents.

But one family has had to celebrate the day their baby boy entered the world without him.

Charlie Douthwaite was born at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle on October 2, 2017, weighing 6lbs 5oz.

But Charlie was born with half a heart and had to be transferred to the Freeman Hospital the same day, where he awaited a heart transplant.

He was given a second chance at life at just eight weeks old when a donor was found and he underwent the transplant operation.

Sadly, he lost his fight for life at six months of age in March this year after his condition deteriorated.

Now his parents Tracie Wright and Steven Douthwaite have marked the day Charlie would have turned one with a mixture of sorrow and celebration.

Together with their sons Jamie, 11, and Ryan, eight, the family released balloons into the air to commemorate Charlie’s short but meaningful life.

Family and friends gathered behind Willow Avenue in Fenham on Tuesday evening to remember Charlie and take part in the balloon release.

Blue balloons – some inscribed with personal messages – were released into the sky as loved ones wished the tragic youngster a happy birthday.

Tracie, 31, revealed that she was determined to carry out the celebrations despite the grief she feels.

She said: “It doesn’t really feel like his birthday because he’s not here, but we have to celebrate our hero.”

The family, from Fenham, also left flowers at Charlie’s dedicated bench outside the Freeman Hospital.

Tracie said: “Even now after six months it still feels like a massive shock. The whole family’s devastated. You plan everything when you have a baby, but it’s all tragically been taken away.

“To think we won’t see him again, we won’t be able to celebrate his day with him. It is a massive hole in our lives.

“We will be buying flowers instead of presents, lighting candles instead of candles on his cake. It’s just completely different.”

Doctors realised Charlie had hypoplastic left heart syndrome condition when he was still in the womb.

He also had a narrow aorta with a hole in and another hole between two of the chambers of the heart which meant he was in desperate need of a new heart.

Although Charlie’s life ended four months after he received his transplant, Tracie is grateful for the extra time it gave them.

“He had two birthdays, the day he was born and the day he received his heart. If it was not for his donor family, we would not have got as far as we did.

“We will be marking that day as a special remembrance and one of the greatest days. It gave us so much hope. That’s what we do when we choose to donate, you give somebody that hope and that belief.”

As well as regularly donating blood in Charlie’s memory, Tracie, who works as a carer, has been inspired into following a new career path.

She hopes to complete a university course to become a children’s nurse.

“The majority of the nursing staff were absolutely fantastic. They treated us like we were family and treated Charlie like he was special,” she said.

“You just want to help other babies like Charlie. I know how much of a difference it can make to have a nurse by your side and somebody who understands what it feels to be to be on the other side of the bed.”

Tracie and Steven, 33, a maintenance worker at the Centre for Life, are still waiting for answers as to what went wrong for Charlie.

In the meantime, they are raising awareness on the importance of organ donation and recently raised more than £2,000 for the paediatric intensive care unit at the Freeman Hospital where Charlie was treated.