Family Shares Story Of Their Baby Who Became The Youngest Organ Donor In UK

A newborn baby in UK who died last April 22, 2014 became the youngest organ donor ever. Now, parents of Teddy Houlston want the world to know about their son’s story.

In 2014, doctors from the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff performed a surgery on Teddy minutes after he died. The newborn only had less than two hours of life.

Teddy was born anencephalic, which means that his brain and skull did not develop well. Jess Evans found out then that she was pregnant with twins and that one of them won’t possibly make it. Babies with anencephaly usually die in the womb or are born still, while others can live seconds, minutes or just a few hours from birth.

Despite the fact that the couple knew of Teddy’s fate, they didn’t opt for abortion though doctors did suggest it to them. “We thought that even if we had a moment with him, or 10 minutes, or an hour, that time was the most precious thing that we would ever experience,” Evans told Mirror. Instead they considered donating Teddy’s organs. “Organ donation was something I’ve felt quite strongly about ever since I was a child,” she said.

Houlston said in an interview with BBC that he was told a transplant from a newborn donor would be impossible because it had never been attempted before. But eventually, they received news that there was a plan to transplant organ from Teddy.

Kidneys become fully functional at 37 weeks in pregnancy. Teddy’s was given to an adult who had kidney failure. Having a newborn as an organ donor is an incredibly rare instance and is described as a “milestone moment” by Dr. Paul Murphy from NHS Blood and Transplant. “Every donation is inspirational. It is a selfless act of heroism,” he said.

Mirror reported that the family, together with the surviving twin, Noah, went to visit Teddy’s grave on April 22 – as it would have been his first birthday if he were alive. They shared the story on Teddy’s birthday in hopes of encouraging everyone to consider signing up as an organ donor.

The family is still exchanging letters with Teddy’s organ recipient. Previously, a five-day-old girl, who was never publicly known, was considered the youngest organ donor.

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