Huge day as Wearside heart transplant toddler starts at kindergarten
and live on Freeview channel 276
What a difference a year has made Wearside toddler Beatrix Archbold.
The brave three-year-old spent her first day at kindergarten this week and loved it.
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Hide Ad‘We wondered if she would ever come home’
This time last year, she was attached to a machine which was keeping her alive at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
Terry told the Echo: “A year ago, Bea had already spent a year in hospital and we were wondering whether she was ever going to come home.
‘Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves’
“To look at her now - going to kindergarten and sitting at home eating ice cream and watching Paw Patrol - you would not know any of that happened.
“Sometimes you have to pinch yourself.”
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Hide AdBeatrix is going to an outdoor forest school three half days a week while she settles in.
“She came home after the first day with some paintings that she did,” said Terry.
“She had been playing in the mud kitchen and gathering firewood.”
Two girls with the same powerful message
Another big day beckons for Beatrix and fellow heart transplant recipient Kayleigh Llewellyn, 16.
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Hide AdThey have been chosen to hand out trophies to the winners of a mascot race at an event called Siren Fest in Ingleby Barwick next month.
More families are coming forward
Terry said: “We have been asked by the NHS to take the Hero Inside campaign message there.
“Around 5,000 people are expected through the doors and it’s a great chance to raise awareness of organ donation.” Kayleigh, from Seaham, received a new heart four years ago and spent 102 days in hospital.
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Hide AdHer dad, Shaun Sidney, said: “She is doing really well. She is studying hard at college and looking for a part-time job.”
Making such a difference to organ donation
Kayleigh has also started speaking at events about her own experiences as a heart transplant patient and Beatrix’s dad Terry said: “That is massive. More families are coming forward to hear the stories being told in the Hero Inside campaign.
“And to have Kayleigh there saying ‘I am a heart recipient and I am here now’ is a hugely powerful message.”
Beatrix’s own story unfolded in May 2022.
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.
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Hide AdAfter 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.
Then came a 14 month wait for a new heart.
Parents Shaun Sidney and Sonia Llewellyn initially thought it was asthma, but when she woke up the following day with a sore chest they took her to Sunderland Royal Hospital.
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Hide AdThere, medics found that Kayleigh’s heart rate was too high and she was sent to the Freeman.
Find out more about organ donation
Kayleigh had her transplant in November 2019 but only came home in January 2020 after 102 days in hospital.
People are being urged to confirm their organ donation decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
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.
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