The family of a Glasgow toddler who needs a new heart are pleading with people to become an organ donor.
Ethan Mains is a patient at Ward 23 of the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. The three-year-old is kept alive with portable blood pumps but cannot leave the hospital for long and rarely goes outside.
The tot is one of many sick children waiting even longer for life-saving operations in the wake of the pandemic.
His parents have joined an appeal with the families of other children on the ward to urge more people to become a donor in the event of their own death.
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Ethan's father Stuart Mains said: "Organ donation is such an abstract thing you never really think about it until you need to. I hope we can bring a little bit of human connection.
"It is a horrific situation, and I wouldn't wish it on anybody, all we can ask is that anyone who finds themselves faced with this decision gives it a little consideration and thought."
The Freeman Hospital is a specialist centre for heart operations. It said around 48 children in the UK currently need a new heart, with hundreds more waiting for other organs.
Many of them require a heart from a young donor, and NHS Blood and Transplant said around 55 per cent of families who suffer the death of someone under 18 agree to a donation - a figure the organisation hopes will rise.
Children on the urgent list for a heart transplant wait, on average, two and a half times longer than adults - around 91 days rather than 35 days. For many of the Freeman families, it has been much longer.
Paediatric intensive care consultant Emma Simpson said: "These are children who are kept alive by a blood pump. Without that blood pump they wouldn't survive, they are completely dependent on this life-saving technology.
"It's a very artificial way to live, it's a very mechanical way to live."
A Freeman spokeswoman said: "If you want to be an organ donor after you die, it's really important that you talk to your loved ones and make sure they understand and support your organ donation decision. You can also register your decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register."
To find out more about organ donation in the UK visit the website.
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