'My daughter was saved by a heart transplant - organ donation should be on the national curriculum'

A campaigning dad has written to the Prime Minister calling for organ donation to be part of the national curriculum for all schools. Parents of children waiting for transplants believe the waiting times could be reduced if the move was put in place.

Beatrix Adamson-Archbold featured on the Mirror's front page back in June, 2022, as her family told of her cardiac arrest at just 16 months old. Her dad Terry, 46, a police officer from Burnopfield, Co Durham, has urged the Government to introduce the topic for discussion in schools as a compulsory element of the curriculum.

‌"We need it for primary and secondary schools," he said. "We are asking the new Government to introduce it in an age appropriate way. We have focused on this because consent rates for transplants in children are not improving. We need a culture change and we do that through the education system."

Research carried out by 'Vote for Schools' in 2020 showed the majority of primary and secondary school children had been inspired to support organ donation by Mirror-backed Max and Keira's Law.

‌A total of 21,538 pupils at primary, secondary schools and colleges learned how the law, introduced on May 20, 2020 after our four-year campaign, could save lives.

‌They were asked “Is the opt-out system the best way to increase organ donations?” Primary and secondary schools female voters had the biggest number of 'Yes' votes with 59.8 percent of Year 4-6 pupils.‌ It meant children as young as eight years old supported the statement: 'I would donate my organs'.

Beatrix's parents Terry and Cheryl Archbold have seen both sides of the transplant journey. In 2018, they lost their daughter Isabel (c) when she was stillborn and donated her heart for medical research.

‌Beatrix, now three years old, had her transplant in June 2023 after 14 months on the waiting list in the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, where Mirror campaigner Max Johnson underwent his heart transplant.

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Terry is being supported in his crusade by Sergio Petrucci, who has been nominated for a Pride of Britain award for his work with the Red Sky Foundation, and Orgamites, the group which teaches about organ donation in schools.

Visit the NHS Organ Donor Register at www.organdonation.nhs.uk.