A teenager has marked the third anniversary of her life-saving heart transplant by penning a moving letter to the family of her donor.
Kayleigh Llewellyn spent more than 100 days at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle before the operation in 2019. The 15-year-old received the heart of Sinead Bree following her death, aged 19.
The Mirror reports how the keen footballer has now wrote a letter to the family of Sinead, of Thorne, South Yorks, to mark the third anniversary of the transplant.
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Kayleigh, from Seaham, County Durham, keeps a photo of her donor by her bed and has raised money for a suicide prevention charity in Sinead’s honour. Kayleigh and her parents, Shaun and Sonia, have also met relatives of Sinead.
In the letter, Kayleigh said: "Today brings back so many emotions and it's hard to put into words. This is the day I was given a second chance, this is the day someone else’s child, auntie, cousin, gave their heart to me.
"This is the day that started a new chapter in my life. This is the day we celebrate the gift of life and the honour of Sinead and my donor family."
Kayleigh admits that life has handed her "a few more struggles". She said: "Through it all my heart has not wavered. It has stayed as strong as the day it was gifted to me."
She said Sinead’s "light still shines on every page I read or write, [and] in every smiling face I see." Kayleigh adds: "We may not have been on the same path before, but today you walk with me."
She said she hopes her story inspires at least one person to consider organ donation with a healthy heart. She said: "The beat goes on... To the donors out there, living and dead, you are true heroes."
Sinead’s aunt Vicki Cooper, 43, of Brigg, Lincolnshire, saw Kayleigh for the first time on TV after the Mirror arranged for her to go on Good Morning Britain with her hero Piers Morgan.
Vicki said: "Her dad said they would love to meet their donor family. When we first wrote to each other, we were not allowed to say too much about ourselves.
"So it was very emotional seeing Kayleigh for the first time. We know part of Sinead lives on. She donated her organs to four people. So potentially, four lives have been saved."
She added: "Sinead wanted to join the police and worked alongside social services with children... She saw a homeless man at the station, and would give him food and clothing. If there is an afterlife, she will be looking down on Kayleigh. She would have wanted to help others."
Kayleigh dad said: "There are no words to express the gratitude we feel for Sinead’s family. They have saved Kayleigh’s life."
The family supported the Change the Law for Life campaign by the Mirror, which led to the opt-out donor law in 2020. The law means adults in England are deemed to be organ donors when they die unless they had stated otherwise.
It was named Max and Keira’s Law after Mirror campaigner Max Johnson, 14, of Winsford, Cheshire, and his heart donor Keira Ball. She was nine when she died in a car crash near her home in Barnstaple, Devon, in 2017.
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