Wiltshire family say their daughter was ‘saved’ by organ donor

A family whose three-year-old daughter received a heart transplant said “everyone should be on the donor list”.

Amelia, from Chippenham in Wiltshire, was rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital in June 2022 after a suspected ear infection turned out to be a sign of heart failure.

The family spent the next 18 months in hospital waiting for a transplant, with Amelia having a successful operation in April this year.

Amelia’s mother, Jodie Woolford, said: “There’s not a lot of awareness of child organ donors because parents don’t want to think about it.”

Ms Woolford said she believed the difficulty comes because most parents are faced with the decision to donate when their child has just died.

“Their emotions are high because they just lost their baby and they have to think about donating their baby’s organs,” she said.

“They can’t believe it, so some of them just say ‘no’ because they don’t have enough information.”

Amelia’s father Rich Bolter, who suffered from anxiety attacks while waiting for a transplant, said: “Not many children die so young and given their blood type, blood tissue and also with the right size, always will be. a small chance of her (Amelia) getting one.”

Speaking to the BBC, the couple said they had been told the age and gender of the child who donated Amelia’s organ.

Mrs Woolford said: “Our baby is alive and has been saved by this generous gift.

“I wrote a letter to the family and they asked for a heartbeat sound, which is wonderful,” she added.

Amelia’s parents said life in hospital now feels like “a distant memory”.

“Now we’re allowed to be a normal family,” Mrs Woolford said. “Just to be able to walk out your front door and just take her for an ice cream — I can’t believe it.”

At the end of their stay at Great Ormond Street Hospital came another important moment for the family.

Mr Bolter said: “I actually proposed to Jodie on her last day in hospital – I thought we had been on this journey together and it made us stronger than ever.”