'Dear Prime Minister' - heart transplant Beatrix Archbold, three, has message for Sir Keir Starmer

Beatrix Archbold and her family have been lobbying the new Government and asking them to make changes in schools.

They want organ donation awareness to become a compulsory topic in all schools including primaries.

‘Make it a compulsory topic’

Beatrix made Sunderland Echo headlines when she had a heart transplant a year ago.

Her grateful family has fought for awareness to be spread about organ donation.

Terry Archbold, the proud father of Beatrix, has revealed the progress which has been made.

So much progress

One year on from his daughter receiving a new heart, he said:

“We have been lobbying Government heavily. The big push is for them to adapt the National Curriculum to include organ donation awareness as a compulsory topic.

“It is an optional extra in secondary schools only at the moment.

“We were in communication with two previous Schools Ministers and they agreed to review it.”

Now the family has meetings on the way with representatives of the new Government.

Sixty parachutists to jump at event

But that’s not the only progress that campaigners have achieved.

Sixty parachutists had signed up for a skydive from Shotton Airfield in September to promote the cause under the Red Sky banner.

A motor bike rally featuring hundreds of bikes is expected to happen in Shotton at the same time on September 21.

Two courageous girls raising awareness

Organ Donation Awareness Week will start on Monday, September 23, and Beatrix has been fronting the campaign to spread awareness, by helping to send off letters.

They have joined forces with the family of Kayleigh Llewellyn who is a fellow heart recipient.

Terry added: “Between Kayleigh’s family and ours, we are developing the campaign and we are getting lots of great attention from the public.”

How Beatrix’s story unfolded

Beatrix’s story first unfolded in May 2022.

The Archbold family had returned from a trip to Disney World in Florida and thought Beatrix caught Covid. 

She had stopped drinking, had a rash on her neck and the family dialled 111.

After going to A&E, a doctor at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead detected a heart murmur. Tests showed one side of her heart was enlarged and not functioning properly.

She had an operation to fit a line into her body so she could receive medication but she had a cardiac arrest and was saved by expert surgeons at the Freeman Hospital who performed open heart surgery.

She lived on a hospital ward for more than a year

Then came a 14-month wait for a new heart.

The little girl lived in the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for a year and was attached to tubes which acted as her ventricles.

She spent so long in hospital that she learned to walk and talk while she was on the ward.

Joy after tragedy

It was last summer when she finally got the heart transplant that dad Terry and mum Cheryl, from Roker, had hoped for.

The family has also experienced heartache. Terry and Cheryl know only too well what losing a child is like.

Their daughter Isabel was stillborn six years ago. The couple agreed her heart could be donated for medical research.

And they have been tireless in their pursuit for others to support the organ donation awareness cause.

To find out more, visit: www.organdonation.nhs.uk, call 0300 123 23 23 or use the NHS app.