Devastated parents of a baby boy with a heart defect issue urgent plea

Devastated parents of a baby boy with a heart defect issue urgent plea to find him a new organ as doctors warn he has just THREE DAYS to live

• Doctors at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital say Carter Cookson has days to live
• He was born on Boxing Day with severe heart issues and needed major surgery 
• Days later his family was told his only chance for survival was a heart transplant 

The devastated parents of a baby boy with a heart defect are in a desperate race against time to find him a new organ.

Doctors at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital have now broken the news to Sarah, 44, and Chris Cookson, 40, that their son Carter has just days to live.

Carter was born on Boxing Day, 2018 with severe heart problems and at just a few days old he underwent major heart surgery.

Days later his family was told his only chance for survival was for him to undergo a heart transplant. 

He was put on an Ecmo machine, which replaced the function of his heart and lungs, but there have now been complications with it.

Doctors at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital have now broken the news to Sarah, 44, and Chris Cookson, 40, that their son Carter has just days to live

Carter’s parents, of South Shields, then launched the campaign £findaheartforCarter in an urgent plea to help their baby boy. 

Posting on the Find a Heart for Carter Facebook Page yesterday evening, the family said: ‘We really do need your love, support and prayers more than anything now!

‘Carter’s Mammy and Daddy have met with doctors today, they have been advised that due to issues with the Ecmo machine they now predict that they only have 3 days to find a heart.

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‘We need this story to get to the right people… please please share as much as you can on all social media we are all heart broken at this latest news but won’t give up hope.’

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Mrs Cookson said: ‘We desperately hope that out baby’s courage and strength leads to our prayers being answered.

‘Everyday is getting harder and harder… we feel sick when we walk into the hospital..it’s the fear..of what will be, is the machine still working?.. is his breathing ok?… are his organs surviving? then…..IS TODAY THE DAY?

Carter was born on Boxing Day, 2018 with severe heart problems and at just a few days old he underwent major heart surgery (pictured in hospital)

Carter’s parents (pictured together), of South Shields, then launched the campaign £findaheartforCarter in an urgent plea to help their baby boy

HOW COMMON ARE HEART TRANSPLANTS? 

As many as 200 heart transplants are carried out on adults in the UK each year, according to official statistics.

But an estimated 1,300 men, women and children die every year waiting for a new organ, according to the British Heart Foundation.

Patients are added onto a waiting list if they are deemed for suitable for such an operation to replace their faulty heart.

Once placed in such a queue, it could take days, months or even years before a healthy donor organ is found.

One fifth of such patients never get the organ they so desperately need, while half manage to get one within three years.

‘But we take a deep breath and get through it for Carter. If he is fighting we are fighting.’

The couple lost their first son, Charlie, in October 2013, when he was just two-years-old. 

In his memory, they set up the Charlie Cookson Foundation, which provides financial support to parents of seriously ill children.

Mrs Cookson added: ‘Our local MP Emma Lewell-Buck advised us that the following has been passed in Parliament.

‘NHS Blood and Transplant will support specialist nurses in the difficult conversations they have with bereaved families whose deceased child is eligible for organ donation, by informing them that there are eight children on the waiting list for a heart, and at least one of those families has already lost a child.

‘After reading this… it filled me with warmth..as hearing this at such a devastating time turns my heart from despair to love..and to what a son and daughter can give…a gift of life. If we do not get our miracle we will take comfort knowing our brave boy lives on in others.’ 

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Mrs Cookson said: ‘We desperately hope that out baby’s courage and strength leads to our prayers being answered’ (pictured with Carter in hospital)

Days after he was born, Carter’s family was told his only chance for survival was for him to undergo a heart transplant

He was put on an Ecmo machine, which replaced the function of his heart and lungs, but there have now been complications with it

His mother wrote on Facebook: ‘Carter’s Mammy and Daddy have met with doctors today, they have been advised that due to issues with the Ecmo machine they now predict that they only have 3 days to find a heart’ (Carter pictured with his father in hospital)

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