A young girl named Beatrix Adamson-Archbold, who underwent a life-saving heart transplant, has received significant support for her advocacy on organ donation education in schools, including a message from the Prime Minister. Beatrix, a brave four-year-old, spent over 15 months at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle awaiting her transplant, and her father Terry is actively campaigning for organ donor awareness to be integrated into the national curriculum.
Terry arranged for Beatrix to hand-deliver a letter to Sir Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street, which caught the attention of the Prime Minister. Sir Keir expressed his endorsement for teaching children about the importance of organs, stating that understanding blood, tissue, and organs should be part of secondary school education.
In her letter to Sir Keir, Beatrix shared her personal experience of receiving a heart transplant and emphasized the potential impact of organ donation education in schools. The Prime Minister responded with empathy, commending Beatrix’s resilience and expressing hope for her future as a doctor. Terry also wrote to the Prime Minister, urging the government to include organ donation as a mandatory topic in the National Curriculum.
Supporting Terry’s efforts is Beatrix’s mother, Cheryl Adamson, who, along with Terry, made the difficult decision to donate their daughter Isabel’s heart for medical research after she was stillborn in 2018. The Mirror’s Change the Law for Life campaign led to the implementation of the opt-out system for organ donation in England in May 2020, known as Max and Keira’s Law in honor of Max Johnson and his donor, Keira Ball.
Keira’s father, Joe, chose to donate her organs following her tragic death in 2017, leading to the saving of four lives. Under the new law, individuals in England are presumed to be organ donors unless they opt out, with the consent of family members always sought before any donation is carried out. To learn more, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk.