JOSEPH RECOVERS FROM PIONEERING LIFE-SAVING TREATMENT

It is wonderful to share the news that Joseph, the five-year-old son of Miss Saunders (Maths teacher) is recovering at home after life-saving treatment. The pioneering operation at Newcastle Hospitals is the first of its kind in the UK to successfully use an ‘ECMO’ machine as a bridge to a life-saving double lung transplant in a young child. Joseph was taken poorly last summer and his condition rapidly deteriorated, progressing to profound lung failure.  His condition was life threatening and he spent nine months between the Freeman and Great North Children’s Hospitals. He was kept alive on a heart-lung bypass machine until his new lungs were received from a   donor in Europe. Further information about Joseph’s operation is available at Newcastle Hospitals

We send all our love and best wishes to Miss Saunders, Joseph and her family and extend our thanks to the surgeons and team at Newcastle Hospitals for their amazing support.

The family wanted to share Joseph’s story to help raise awareness about organ donation, especially in children.  They have been featured in the national press and were also interviewed on BBC Breakfast on Friday 15^th May. Find out more about organ donation here.