“Yüzlerce çocuk, hala Noel Baba’nın getiremeyeceği hediyeyi bekliyor”

Ödül kazanmış ulusal organ bağışı kampanyasının bir parçası olarak oyuncak bebeklere dönüştürülen çocukların yarısından fazlası, Noel için hayati önem taşıyan bir organ nakli aldı. Ancak yüzlerce çocuk, Noel Baba’nın getiremeyeceği bir hediye için hala bekliyor.

More than half the children transformed into dolls as part of an award-winning national organ donation campaign have now received a lifesaving transplant in time for Christmas 

But hundreds of children are still waiting for a gift Santa can’t bring

More than half of a group of children who were transformed into handmade dolls, to raise awareness of the need for young organ donors, have received their life-saving organ transplants in time for Christmas.

The Waiting to Live campaign saw hundreds of dolls placed across the UK*. They aimed to highlight the hundreds of under 18s on the waiting list for a transplant, including sixteen dolls linked to specific children sharing their stories.

Nine of the children who had a doll made to represent them have now received their transplant, while seven youngsters remaining on the waiting list another year on. Along with hundreds of other children they face the agonising wait for a transplant this Christmas and into the New Year.

Parents are being urged to think and talk about organ donation for themselves and their children, to help save more lives.

Ralph inspired the campaign when he desperately needed a multi organ transplant to survive. The four year old, from London, has now had a life-saving liver and bowel transplant.

Ralph is joined by Amelia, Evie and Freddie who have all had heart transplants, Ava who received a lung transplant, Jude who had a multi organ transplant, Pablo who got the kidney he needed and Sienna and Ralf have had liver transplants.

Those children still waiting are Dáithí and Jack who need hearts, Alex, Charlie and Uqbah who require kidneys, Arabella who may need a cornea transplant in future to save her sight and Sophie who has been waiting for a lung transplant since spring 2023.

And these children are just a snapshot of those waiting as 280 children are on the waiting list for an organ transplant in the UK right now** and face Christmas waiting for the ultimate gift. One of those who has been added is toddler Zachary who has been waiting for a liver and small bowel transplant since the summer and is deteriorating, with his family fearing he may not make Christmas.

There were 39 child organ donors in 2023/24. In the same period 252 children received a transplant, 151 from a deceased donor and 101 due to a living donor. In 2023/24 eight children sadly died on the waiting list for an organ transplant. More young donors are needed to help the children waiting for a life-saving transplant.

Anthony Clarkson, Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “For many children on the transplant waiting list, their only hope is the parents of another child saying ‘yes’ to organ donation at a time of immense sadness and personal grief.

“Losing a child is tragic and such a difficult time, which is why we’re asking parents to think about what they might do around organ donation now. Families tell us that knowing their child has helped other people and another family is not facing the loss of a child too can be comforting.

“We urge parents to think and talk about organ donation for themselves and their children today. Your decision could help save lives.”

Waiting to Live, by creative agency VML (formerly Wunderman Thompson) with support from NHS Blood and Transplant, launched in November 2023 to highlight the hundreds of children waiting for a transplant and the need for parents to consider organ donation.

More than 7,900 people in the UK, including 280 children, face this Christmas waiting for an organ transplant*.

If organ donation is possible, parents will be asked to make a decision as part of their child’s end of life care.

To support donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk