Festive joy for heart op Lucy

8:19am Sunday 24th December 2006

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BRAVE little Lucy Pearson and her family will be celebrating an extra special Christmas - one they thought she would never see.

Lucy, seven, is now looking forward to opening her presents and eating her first real Christmas dinner, thanks to the generosity of the donor who saved her life.

Lucy, who lives in Whitsbury, was born with congenital heart problems and was constantly in and out of hospital.

Her mum, Bev said: "Her heart was so bad she couldn't take a huge volume in her stomach. She used to live on high calorie milk drinks."

In December last year Lucy was placed on the active transplant list after doctors said there was no further treatment available for her heart and, just months ago, she received a new heart.

And this Christmas will be the first Lucy can enjoy like any other child - the first one where she can run around and laugh with her siblings, Robert, 15, Emily 13, Alice, five, and Ben, three.

"Lucy's life has changed beyond recognition, she can ride a bike and she can jump on a trampoline," added mum Bev.

"We don't know anything about Lucy's donor but we know they and their family made an incredible decision which saved Lucy's life, and we intend to help her make the most of that special gift."

Lucy had her seventh birthday this December, another date she would not have seen without her "new engine" as she calls it.

Now she is looking forward to trying out her new cycle and roller skates, both of which she couldn't even have dreamed about using before. And staff at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, where she has spent many a night, say they look forward to hearing she's broken her leg!

The Pearson family is backing the Live Life Then Give Life campaign, and asks everyone to show the true spirit of Christmas by signing the Organ Donor Register.

This Christmas there are more than 8,000 people in the UK who desperately need an organ transplant to save or radically improve their lives.

However, there is a chronic shortage of donors, and 450 people die each year waiting.

The ever-growing demand for transplants means those waiting lists are getting steadily longer.

People can sign the organ donor register online at www.uktransplant.org.uk, or by phoning the Organ Donor Line on 0845 60 60 400.