SAVE OUR BABY BOY
AGONY FOR COUPLE TOLD NEW-BORN NEEDS A TRANSPLANT
Parents’ plea for heart as little Carter given just weeks to live without transplant
HOOKED up to the machine that is keeping him alive, little Carter Cookson is facing a terrifying race against time to find a new heart.
Parents Sarah and Chris have been told their precious baby boy has just weeks to live if a transplant is not found, after he suffered three cardiac arrests within hours of being born on Boxing Day.
Carter’s unexpected and devastating heart problems came as the cruellest of blows for the parents, from South Shields, who lost their first son Charlie in 2013 when he was just twoand-a-half.
And today, as the couple keep a round-the-clock vigil at his bedside at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, they have issued an urgent plea in the hope a new heart will be found.
Sarah, 44, wrote on Facebook: “Our boy has not responded to the surgery and the only way he will survive is if he gets a new heart or by some miracle his heart begins to pump blood around his body.
“We need a heart in five weeks or we will lose our beautiful baby boy. I can’t put into words how heartbroken we all are... but we will never give up on him.”
Sarah’s close friend Joanne Nicholson told the Chronicle how Carter was born at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) two weeks early, on December 26, after a trouble-free pregnancy.
After losing son Charlie, who spent his short life battling a series of serious conditions, the Cooksons described Carter’s arrival as a ‘miracle.’
But within hours of meeting their much-longed-for boy, the proud par-
ents were confronted with a new heartbreaking ordeal.
Medics discovered Carter’s heart was not beating properly. He was transferred to the Freeman and, after surviving three cardiac arrests, the little boy was attached to an ‘Ecmo’ machine to pump the blood around his body.
Then on Thursday, when he was just over one week old, Carter underwent surgery to drain one side of his heart and attach a pacemaker.
But the operation was not as successful as the family and doctors had hoped.
And consultants have told Sarah and Chris, 40, that a heart transplant is Carter’s only hope.
He now remains attached to the Ecmo machine, but medics say he can only remain this way for six to eight weeks.
Joanne, 40, said: “It’s only a miracle or a heart transplant that will save him now. Sarah and Chris are just in limbo at the minute.”
The Cooksons set up the The Charlie Cookson Foundation in memory of their first-born son. Charlie, who was born with a mysterious medical condition, spent much of his life in hospital.
When Sarah and Chris finally felt ready to try for another child, the pregnancy was monitored closely by medics at the RVI.
And Joanne said there was no indication of any problems until after Carter was born.
“Charlie was their life, so it was a big step for them to make the decision to try and have another child,” said Joanne. “They were over the moon when she found out she was pregnant.
“Sarah and Chris are amazing. I think they have gone on to auto-pilot.
“They spent two and a half years looking after Charlie, but they are just devastated. It’s just so cruel, but they are just fighting for Carter.”
“We just need to get it out there.
“Because Carter is so small I don’t think it will be straightforward to find a heart.”
They are just devastated. It’s just so cruel, but they are just fighting for Carter