Little Teddy Nichols needs a lifesaving liver transplant after the one donated by his mum in a previous surgery has started to fail – now his family are hoping someone can give him the gift of life
Three-year-old Teddy Nichols is waiting for his third lifesaving liver transplant, but is still the life and soul of the party according to his mum.
The bubbly youngster was born with the rare disease neonatal haemachromatosis which caused an iron overload in his liver but his two previous transplants have failed. Mum Emma told the Mirror the family are now just hoping someone can give Teddy the precious gift of life by signing the NHS Organ Donor Register.
Emma, from Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, explains that despite everything he has been through, Teddy doesn’t let things get him down. She said: “He’s a character of the highest level, super cheeky and brings happiness to everyone he meets.
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“I think it’s his determination and stubbornness that gets him through everything he has to deal with. Organ donation is so important. It’s the best gift that anybody could receive in life! There are so many families just like us.”
Teddy, who has an older brother Theo, underwent his first transplant at just ten weeks old when he received part of a liver from a deceased donor who parents Emma and Greg say is his “superhero”. The Mirror reported in 2023 how he received a second lifesaving transplant from Emma in a pioneering operation.
She donated part of her liver to increase the blood flow needed for Teddy to survive in the long term. Surgeons at King’s College Hospital in London used a technique known as a hitch-vein monosegment to reduce the liver in size to match the dimensions of a baby’s body.
Experts at the hospital said at the time, the only alternative would have been to wait for a deceased donor liver from another small baby, which is “rare”. Emma, 34, said: “Unfortunately they can’t surgically open the veins. He’s okay at the moment but there already signs his liver is deteriorating. The doctors said the best way forward is a whole new donated liver.
“Everyone says he looks amazing. And the doctors say that he can wait for the right liver to arrive. They don’t want to risk it, they want to give him one that’s the best for him and hopefully one that will last.
“People always ask us ‘how do you cope?’ I think we’ve just been running on adrenaline since Teddy was born. Teddy keeps fighting so we keep fighting with him. He’s our little trooper. He makes sure he does everything like his big brother, and will always put a smile on your face with his little dances.”
The Mirror reported in July how people on the NHS transplant waiting list is at a record high after a post-pandemic drop in donors. NHS Blood and Transplant says the reasons behind this are unclear with some bereaved families not consenting to donation.
A drop in donors comes at the same time as increasing demand from our ageing population. Around 12,000 Brits are living in daily uncertainty, unsure if they will get the organ they need to save their life. One person can donate up to nine organs.
After years of campaigning by the Mirror, the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act – also known as “Max and Keira’s Law” – came into effect in England in May 2020. It brought the country into line with the system in Wales and Scotland, then Northern Ireland followed suit in June 2023.
There is now an ‘opt-out’ system meaning that adults are presumed to be organ donors after their death unless they have specifically registered as not wanting to donate. However, crucially, grieving relatives can still veto transplants.
Emma said: “Without donation, so many families would be so massively affected. We urge people to show their support for donation on the NHS Organ Donor register.
“Unfortunately we see the transplant waiting list numbers are going up and up and up, unfortunately some patients may not have the chance. We just keep on living and making all the memories we can with our boys. It’s all we can do.”