Shropshire boy Oli living the good life thanks to heart donation

When he becomes a teenager next week, there will be cake, presents - and a very special thank you to the family who made the decision that means Oli is alive today.

For Oli was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a birth-defect affecting the blood flow through the heart.

When he was five-years-old he was given six months to live.

Then came the telephone call that parents, Emma and Adam, had wondered would ever come, to say a heart was available for transplant.

The transplant gave Oli, from Oswestry, a new life that he is living to the full.

He and his family are backing an NHS campaign urging families in Shropshire to talk about organ donation, after research showed fewer than half of adults in England have had the conversation.

The Leave Them Certain campaign aims to highlight the impact not knowing has on the families who are left behind and encourage people to talk about their decision.

It follows the law change last year in England, which means that all adults are seen as willing to donate their organs, unless they opt out or are in one of the excluded groups.

In Shropshire, some 206,116 people are currently on the NHS Organ Donor Register, with 15 people becoming donors in the last year.

Oliver's mum, Emma, said she would be forever grateful to the family who, in their darkest hour, gave permission for their loved one's organs to be used to save other lives.

"We are grateful every day for that one amazing family who allowed us to enjoy life with Oli," she said.

"When he was five he couldn't walk more that a few yards without getting out of breath.

"Now he plays for the Shropshire Disability Cricket Team and Oswestry Cricket Club and before the pandemic was having trials for Shropshire County Cricket's under 13s.

"In February last year he went to Lords to play for the disability cricket team and was made man of the match," Emma said.

Life is still not easy for Oli, who has to have 14 different tablets every day to ensure his body does not reject his heart.

And he continues to have eight weekly check-ups at Birmingham Children's Hospital.

"He has never once complained about his life. He just accepts it," Emma said.

"He has a very special bond with his brother, Harry, they adore each other and they both look out for each other."

Emma stressed that it would be up to every individual and every family to make the decision about organ donation.

"I would never judge anybody, but I would just say, if your loved one needed an organ, you would be so grateful if a family had made that decision in their hour of grief," she said.

"It is a tricky subject but please have that conversation.

"When you are told your son has six months to live, that there is no medication, no surgery that can help him, you go through life in a daze, everything you do is an act. You get up, go to work, come home, go to bed.

"Then, when he is given that gift of life, you suddenly enjoy the simplest of pleasures.

"The chances of being an organ donor are so remote - but please have the conversation."