Young girl in the North East waiting for life-saving heart transplant

Evie Green is a four-year-old girl from Middlesbrough, currently living in Newcastle with her family as she waits for a life-saving heart transplant at the Freeman Hospital.

Evie’s parents, Chloe and David, who also have a 5-year-old son named Theo, are encouraging parents to sign their children up for the organ donation register, to potentially save the lives of other children.

Evie was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at only four months old. Evie’s mother Chloe explained: “She responded pretty well with medication, and nothing changed with her heart function as a result. She managed to remain stable for three years.”

Sadly, in February of this year, Evie was admitted to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital as her heart began to significantly deteriorate. Chloe explained: “She was then placed with a mechanical heart, which is keeping her alive.”

Evie is now waiting for a heart transplant, and Chloe said: “We just don’t know when that might be.”

Chloe and her husband David are encouraging people to sign up to be an organ donor, and to consider registering their children, to save the lives of children like Evie.

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“Evie needs a child organ because of her size,” Chloe explained. “It has to come from a child, which people don’t like to think about, which is understandable but it’s important to think of what organ donation can do for people like Evie.”

“It’s been a very difficult journey. We are on a path where if we don’t get a donor for Evie, we are faced with the worst-case scenario.

“If a donor does become available, our lives would change. It would be a second start for Evie.”

To register your child for organ donation, please visit the NHS Organ Donation website for more information, or discuss with your child’s GP.

Evie’s family have a Facebook page where they discuss Evie’s condition in order to help other parents who may be in a similar situation, and to document Evie’s journey for themselves.