With little Beatrix Adamson-Archbold still at the Freeman Hospital awaiting a heart transplant, police colleagues of her dad Terry are planning a charity walk from County Durham to the hospital to support a charity who have been helping the family.
Beatrix, who is not yet two, is one of a number of children at the Freeman Hospital currently in need of a heart. In July, their families came together to make a heartbreaking appeal for families to consider organ donation. Of course, opportunities for this kind of organ donation only come in sad circumstances - when another child is about to die.
Ahead of the charity walk, Beatrix's mum Cheryl added: "Some officers from Durham police will be raising funds for a local charity and raising awareness of childhood transplant issues." The walk is in aid of the Red Sky Foundation - a Sunderland-based charity set up by Sergio and Emma Petrucci, who saw daughter Luna too require open-heart surgery back in 2015.
The charity works to support cardiac care at hospitals across the North East, and also funds defibrillators for public use. Cheryl added that the family were desperate to encourage people to think about "considering organ donation on their worst day, to save other children".
Dad Terry - Sgt Archbold at work - is part of the Stanley neighbourhood policing team. Colleagues from the neighbouring Consett team are taking on their Walk for Beatrix on September 3. The aim is to raise £500 for the charity.
The Consett team follow others within Durham Constabulary to have raised money on a fundraising challenge. Members of the Stanley team - including Terry himself - climbed Ben Nevis earlier this year for the same reasons.
The Consett officers said: "Our colleague Terry, his wife Cheryl and their daughters, Eliza and Beatrix, have recently had their world turned upside down. Beatrix is currently in the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle after suffering heart failure and now awaiting a heart transplant.
"For Terry and his family this means an agonising wait for a donor which could take days, weeks, or years and, until this time, Beatrix cannot leave the hospital. Beatrix has brought into focus the issue of child organ donation and Terry and his family are very keen to spread awareness around this difficult topic.
"How can you help? Take a moment to think about child organ donation – try to imagine what you would do if you found yourself in the heart-breaking situation where a doctor asked you to consider donation. All Terry and his family would like you to do is think ‘what would I do’? Have the discussion."
Terry and Cheryl know more than most how difficult the decision can be. In 2018 following the death of daughter Isabel - who was stillborn - they donated her heart for research. Terry said: "The sense of grief I feel about Beatrix's situation feels the same as the grief I felt for Isabel.
"We agreed for the organ donation to take place and we have taken comfort from that since. The reality is, without parents considering the unthinkable or choosing to donate in the midst of their own tragedy without that, none of these children would have a chance at life."
The fundraising page for the Walk for Beatrix is available at redskyfoundation.enthuse.com/pf/walkforbeatrix
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