Desperate race to save three-week-old baby who could be dead by Christmas

08 December 2023 , 13:01

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Three-week old George Wathey needs a new heart (Image: Newcastle Hospitals / SWNS)

A three-week-old baby boy is fighting for his life and desperately needs a heart transplant or he could die before Christmas.

Little George Wathey is one of the UK's youngest patients waiting for a transplant after he was born with heart failure. His mum Emma, 27, was given the devastating news after he was born weighing 7lbs 12oz last month. She had woken up when he was a few days old to find him looking grey in his Moses basket and called an ambulance.

He was sent to the Newcastle's Freeman Hospital where a scan confirmed he has heart failure. Doctors told Emma if he does not receive a suitable donor he could die before Christmas. Emma, who has not left her little boy's side as he fights for life in paediatric intensive care, said: "It's like a nightmare you cannot wake up from - you're confused, frustrated - and everything is changing all the time and all you want is for him to be better.

George could die without a new heart (Newcastle Hospitals / SWNS)

He is just three weeks old (Newcastle Hospitals / SWNS)

"I'm just taking each day as it comes - there's nothing more I can do - I just wish I could fix him. I didn't think this could happen and was really surprised babies can have heart transplants. It's just all so hard to take in - there's been that much going on and his birth seems so long ago - it's like a distant memory."

Emma, from Teeside, is now desperately hoping a suitable donor is found to save her little boy. She said: "If the day comes, it's a pure selfless act to save others - one I would be forever grateful for. I never imagined I'd be in this position - you feel so helpless - but I just need to do something and anything which helps to raise awareness of organ donation is so important.

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"It's been just me and George right from the beginning, we've had a difficult journey right from the start but we got through it together. Even before he came into the world, he got me through those difficult first few months of pregnancy. He is my best friend and I thought we had the rest of our lives together, I can't imagine my life without my little boy and having to say goodbye after such a short amount of time together."

George's plight comes as a new campaign aims to highlight all the children waiting for a transplant. Waiting to Live asks parents to consider organ donation for them and their children and add themselves to the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Kelly-Ann Mills