Heart transplant girl Beatrix Archbold set to finally enjoy dream holidays in 2024 after amazing progress

A little girl's dream of going on holiday could finally come true.

Beatrix Archbold had her hopes of a trip to Paris and the Scottish Highlands dashed when she was a baby in May 2022.

Instead, she spent 15 months in hospital waiting for a new heart.

But just look at her now. She's a lively two-year-old who is loving life.

And once she reaches the 12-month anniversary of her heart transplant, she can look forward to exciting travels with her family.

A New Year and new travels for Beatrix

Dad Terry said: "We shall pick up on some of the trips that we were not able to do.

"We had trips to the Scottish Highlands planned when Bea took ill.

"Perhaps Disneyland Paris will be something we can do as well."

Beatrix’s story unfolded in May 2022 when her family thought she had caught Covid.

Surgeons saved her life

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 was attached to a machine which kept her alive and stayed at the Freeman for 15 months after that until she got her new heart.

'She's a little girl with a future ahead of her'

But now, as she gets used to life at home following her heart transplant, Beatrix and her parents Terry and Cheryl, from Roker, are looking forward to an amazing 2024.

Terry told the Echo: "She is not the little baby that went into hospital. We are getting to watch her grow up.

"She is a little girl with a future ahead of her."

There are plans for Beatrix to go to school and she can now mingle with other people her own age at nursery.

She has a fondness for saying 'Howay'

"All the way through hospital, her interaction with other children was limited - and with the family. It's nice to see her build relationships with people."

The family have noticed one unusual twist in Beatrix's development. She speaks with a Geordie accent!

"In one respect, her speech is really good but somehow, she has a Geordie accent. She says little things like 'howay'.

The family think it is from Beatrix's time mixing with nurses at the Freeman Hospital.

Time to talk about organ donation

The family know only too well what losing a child is like.

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

They want Wearside people to start talking more about the sensitive topic of donating a child’s organs.

Terry added: "We have a lot of ideas about raising awareness."

It's so vital to have that discussion

It's vital that more children get support as some of them don't receive a new heart in time.

"They get beyond the point where the hospital can do anything for them, and they go in to palliative care.

"It hammers home how important it is to talk about organ donation and how lucky Bea has been."

Anthony Clarkson, Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "We urge everyone who supports organ donation to confirm their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register. It is a simple action which only takes two minutes; but can ultimately save lives.”

Visit: www.organdonation.nhs.uk, call 0300 123 23 23 or use the NHS app.