After seeing a beautiful message from heart transplant patient Beatrix Adamson-Archbold, construction staff working at the Freeman Hospital have donned pink shirts for the week to encourage organ donation.
Beatrix - and many others - is awaiting a donor heart at the Children's Heart Unit at the hospital, and during her time in the unit she has made a real impression on those working there. She's charmed cleaners, who've even let her play at helping them with their shifts - and her latest converts are staff from contractors Robertson.
Now, for Organ Donation Week, the workers who see her each day are leading colleagues working around the country in wearing pink to raise awareness of how a donor organ would save the life of a seriously-ill child like Burnopfield's Beatrix.
This comes after Beatrix's Twitter account - run by her family - messaged the contractor directly saying: "Just wanted to tell you how good your crews at the Freeman are. We see them daily next to the Heart Unit, always polite, friendly and always smiling... and they seem to be making rapid progress!"
Organ Donation Week runs from September 26 to October 6 and its aim is to highlight how there are more than 10,000 people currently awaiting a life-saving organ. For many in situations like Beatrix, this - heartbreakingly - can only come if tragedy hits another family. In the past, Beatrix's parents Cheryl Adamson and Terry Archbold have been spoken of how they'd urge families who suffer loss to consider organ donation.
Terry added: "In the months we have been at the Freeman Hospital with Bea we have seen the Robertson team on a daily basis. They are always cheerful, friendly and have made a real effort to put a smile on Bea's face whenever she sees them.
"Those little touches mean a great deal and it is lovely to see Bea waving through the window at the crew and to see their responses. We are deeply touched by the efforts of Robertson to help raise awareness of organ donation for all the children and adults waiting, those efforts genuinely could trigger a life-saving seed of thought."
Beatrix, who will soon turn 2, has been in hospital since May. This summer, the family - along with others also awaiting transplant at the Children's Heart Unit - joined a call for families to consider how donating organs is a lifesaving gesture.
Robertson Group's chief executive Elliot Robertson said: "Comments like those made by Beatrix and her family about our team are greatly appreciated. We decided to support Organ Donation Week to say thanks for taking the time to acknowledge our teams and the work that they are doing, and to help Beatrix and her family to raise awareness of Organ Donation.
"The best way for us to do that, was to ‘go pink’ for the week with our employees across our NHS contracts in specially branded pink high viz vests.. One of the key things for us as a business is to leave a positive impact in the communities and areas where we work, we are hopeful that having our teams ‘Go Pink’ will help to raise awareness and show Beatrix just how much those kind words meant."
This means that during the week contractors at sites like the Freeman, Alnwick Infirmary, Wansbeck Hospital and the RVI will all be bright pink this week. Anthony Clarkson, director of organ and tissue donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: "It’s brilliant to see the Robertson team show their support for Organ Donation Week.
"The modern organ donor card is pink and showing their support in this way on their building sites will certainly get conversations going. We need people across the country to not only talk to their families about organ donation, but to register their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register. This could be the difference between life and death for up to nine people who are waiting.”
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