Sunderland heart transplant toddler's inspiring campaign receives council backing

The Archbold family are lobbying the new Government to add organ donation to the national curriculum

Calls by a Sunderland family for organ donation awareness to be added to the national curriculum have been backed by a senior city councillor.

The Archbold family have been lobbying the new Government over recent months to add the topic to the curriculum after their three-year-old successfully underwent a heart transplant last year.

Upon returning from a family holiday to Florida’s Disney World in 2022, their daughter Beatrix took ill and was rushed to A&E with suspected Covid. However, hospital staff at Gateshead’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital detected a heart murmur and discovered that one side of her heart was enlarged and not beating properly.

The resulting operation led to the toddler requiring a new heart, which it transpired, would take an agonising 14 months. Thankfully, the operation proved a success, and the family are now calling on the Government to make it mandatory for the issue to be taught in schools.

Councillor Kelly Chequer, deputy Leader and Health, Wellbeing and Safer Communities portfolio holder at Sunderland City Council, has agreed to support the campaign led by the Archbold family.

She said: "As a mother and an NHS worker, I knew as soon as I heard Beatrix’s story that it was one I and my colleagues would be willing to get behind and champion. Organ transplants are distressing enough, so I can’t even begin to imagine what the 14-month wait must’ve been like for the family.

“Sadly, while huge strides have been made in raising awareness over the years, it has mainly been among the adult population, with many youngsters still unaware of it.

“Hopefully however, should this campaign prove a success, we will see a huge influx in the number of young people signing up to become organ donors, which in turn could help save hundreds, if not thousands of lives each and every year.”

Councillor Chequer took to the floor at the Full Council meeting on Thursday, 19 September to inform councillors that the City Council had agreed to support the campaign.

After requesting the council get behind the project, she revealed that the authority has agreed to light up city landmarks in pink to coincide with Organ Donation Week - which runs from Monday 23 September to Sunday 29 September - and use the Council’s website and social media channels to further encourage residents to sign up to the NHS Organ Donor register.

She added: “We recognise the importance of Organ Donation Week and in fact, tomorrow I will be meeting with a local family to listen to their experiences of organ donation and thoughts on how we can support this important campaign going forward.

"As a council we do a huge amount to support our health partners in key initiatives such as immunisation and screening campaigns.

“We are delighted to do so again here and, though this is an NHS-led campaign, I am delighted that the Council has agreed that we should help amplify it by lighting landmarks across the city and sharing key messages through relevant council channels to encourage more people in Sunderland to consider joining the NHS Organ Donor register.”

For more information on Organ Donation Week, visit: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/.