Two-year-old giggles in amazement as she recovers from her heart transplant

Little super hero Beatrix Archbold is laughing and playing - just days after a heart transplant.

The two-year-old from Wearside had spent a year attached to tubes which acted as her artificial ventricles.

But all that changed when she had the 10-hour operation recently.

'No pipes, no pipes!'

As she recovered back on the ward, her family recorded a short video of Beatrix to show her progress.

She giggles and shouts that she has 'no pipes' any more.

Dad Terry said: "She is making progress. The medical team are happy with her and we are seeing her character starting to come back."

Please have that chat about organ donation

Terry spoke to the Sunderland Echo as his daughter continued her recovery in the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

Terry also made an important plea to Echo readers - to please continue having that conversation about organ donation.

"Adults and children are awaiting various life saving organ transplants," said Terry.

"The waiting list has gone up 14% in the last four years so it is vital that more people discuss organ donation."

Would you give the gift of life to others?

He urged Echo readers to ask themselves 'would you accept a donated organ to save a loved one? Would you give that same gift of life to help several others?'

Just last week, we shared the emotional moment when mum Cheryl, from Roker, and dad Terry, told their daughter that she was going to have a heart transplant.

Beatrix replied by holding her cuddly toy and saying she was going to 'be better'.

Beatrix’s own story unfolded in May 2022.

Surgeons saved Beatrix's life

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.

Beatrix has learned so much in hospital

So far, Beatrix has reached a number of milestones while living in hospital. She has learned to walk while dressed as Wonder Woman, talk and had her second birthday on the ward.

She learned to cope with moving round with around 3ft of tubes attached to her.

But now she is adjusting to her life with 'no pipes'.

'She has been a little warrior'

Meanwhile, messages of support for Beatrix and her family - and for all donor families - have continued to pour into the Sunderland Echo's social media pages.

Dorothy Pell said: 'Lovely news. Bea has been a little warrior'.

Neil Hutchinson said: "Wonderful news and great love to the donor family'.

Winnie Prescott said Beatrix's transplant was wonderful news but she was also 'remembering the family and their loved one who made this precious gift possible God Bless you x'.

Find out more about organ donations

The Wearside-based Red Sky Foundation also supported the well wishes for Beatrix as well as sending thoughts out to the donor's family.

Beatrix's operation happened because the donor's family 'had that conversation about organ donation' said the Foundation.

For more on organ donation, visit https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/