11 year-old Elodie from Bristol was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy as a baby and needed a heart transplant to save her life. Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital carried out her transplant.
She appears in the ‘Hope Takes Flight’ social media videos being released by NHS Blood and Transplant to urge families to consider organ donation this festive season.
More than 8,000 people across the UK – more than ever before heading into Christmas – are currently listed on the transplant waiting list**.
The ‘Hope Takes Flight’ launch video, released by NHS Blood and Transplant, features Elodie along two other powerful recipient stories and a child organ donor story. A video focused on Elodie’s story will also be released nearer Christmas.
Elodie received a heart transplant as a baby in 2014 at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital. She was only a few months old when she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. Elodie, who lives in Kingswood, Bristol, with her dad Colin, mum Sarah and siblings Freya and Austin, was less than a year old when she received her lifesaving heart transplant. She celebrated her tenth heart anniversary last year.
Elodie says: “My new heart means I can do things that other children do, spend time with my dogs Coco and Bhodie, ride my bike, simple things.
“My highlights have been going to Disneyland, Florida, Britain’s Got Talent – meeting the judges and pressing the ‘X’ red button and helping others.
“Organ donation is a great thing! I wish more people get fixed and can enjoy life again, a very underrated word.
“Hope Takes Flight brings a very serious subject to discussion, if I hadn’t got my new heart, I wouldn’t be able to tell you my story.”
Her dad Colin, aged 52, adds: “I always try to keep up to date with current children or parents who are waiting for ‘that call’ to get their much needed life saving organ which means we are constantly reminded of ‘how grave’ these situations are for families.
“Sarah and I (if asked) tell people we are the lucky ones, but Elodie takes it in her stride in most cases. She is very aware what she has been through. Our differences in life can never be explained in words due to the severity of Elodie’s journey, only to say we cherish every moment with her.
“Elodie has navigated her way and is now becoming a strong minded little girl, she knows her own mind and she is very switched on, which I hope can help others.
“Elodie has benefited by attending a special needs school, but most things go at her pace which helps her massively. She is a well liked individual within school, recently given a School Council post which she loved.
“Most of the waiting and deaths can be avoided. We as a family have benefitted from organ donation enormously and Elodie can be a normal little girl again, be a sister to Freya and Austin.
“We need to continue the discussion – in people’s houses at dinner, while watching TV, on car journeys. If everyone knows their loved ones wishes, it would save many more lives. The worst time in our lives turned into the best time of our life thanks to an organ donor.”
And of Hope Takes Flight, Colin says “We’re very privileged to help out with Hope Takes Flight and tell our story from the parents point of view and Elodie’s.
“We hope no one ever has to go through what we did, chances are very slim but nevertheless you may or may know a family who has/is going through this extremely difficult time. It could be months or even years of waiting which has a massive impact on your day to day lives. The video will always give ‘hope’ and some understanding about the importance of the decision to join the organ donation register.”
The ‘Hope Takes Flight’ launch video includes Elodie and also highlights others who have experienced the heart aching wait for a transplant to the life-changing moment a patient finally receives that call and the story of a child organ donor.
Each story is symbolically linked by a pink and white paper plane – designed by lung transplant recipient and origami artist Joe Russell, representing the hopeful journey that organ donation can bring families. The 47-year-old, from Worthing, West Sussex, also shares his story.
The social campaign also shares the stories of liver recipient and mum-of four Nicki, Detko, 66, from Preston and Aari Patel, 3, who sadly died and became an organ donor in 2016.
Retired PE teacher, Nicki, shares her emotional transplant journey after an autoimmune disease left her in need of an urgent lifesaving liver transplant. This year marks the 21st Christmas she’s been able to share with her now-grown children and grandkids after a lifesaving liver transplant two decades ago.
Three-year-old Aari sadly passed away at home in 2016 and while his young life couldn’t be saved, he went on to donate seven organs and save the lives of others, including two children.
Christine Cox, whose family campaigned for and established the first national NHS Organ Donor Register, is backing the Hope Takes Flight campaign. She started her campaigning alongside her mother Rosemary and father John, in memory of her brother, Peter, who died in 1989, which led to the creation of the register in 1994. Christine recently met origami artist and lung recipient Joe Russell, who designed the organ donation paper plane, at an awareness raising event in her home city – Wolverhampton.
Christine, aged 63, says: “Hope takes flight is a brilliant project showing how people can be connected through the altruistic gift of life. It shows how the Organ Donor Register brings hope to the 8,000 patients on the current waiting list for an organ. I am sure this project will help start the conversation that we all need to have this Christmas as families and friends gather. Please discuss your wishes and find out what your family and friends wishes are too.
“Meeting Joe was a great honour. He is inspirational and a tremendous ambassador and it is “plain/plane” to see how his transplant has given him his life back. It is wonderful that Joe is giving back through this project and his aerodynamic paper plane is great fun to make.
“Organ donation means so much to my family because there is no better gift to commit to this Christmas than joining the NHS Organ Donor Register. The fact that one person can give sight or prevent a patient undergoing dialysis and return to a normal life has to be the greatest, altruistic gift one can give. Please remember death is the only certainty in life and organ donation is the ultimate in recycling.”
It is hoped the campaign videos, bringing together all four stories linked by the organ donation paper plane and also focusing on them individually, will prompt people to confirm their support for organ donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register and tell their family.
Every day in December, someone will die waiting for a transplant***. It is hoped people will share the Hope Takes Flight videos to inspire others to become lifesavers this festive season.
Anthony Clarkson, Director of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant said: “At this time of giving and thinking of others, please give hope to the thousands of people, including hundreds of children, waiting for a lifesaving phone call this Christmas.
“Their lives can only be saved by the ultimate act of humanity and kindness – organ donation. Up to nine lives can be saved when sadly a life is lost.
“Register your decision to be an organ donor and tell your family. Share the Hope Takes Flight videos and inspire others to become lifesavers.”
The videos are being shared on NHS Organ Donation’s social media channels in the run up to and over Christmas to raise awareness. Watch them and share them on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and Linked In – search NHS Organ Donation, @nhsorgandonor.
Confirm your support for organ donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit: www.organdonation.nhs.uk, call 0300 123 23 23 or use the NHS app.  And please tell your family about your decision.
