A frantic call on a winter night 20 years ago launched a desperate race against time, culminating in a life-saving double lung transplant for a four-year-old girl. Today,her mother is urging families to discuss organ donation,a decision that can mean the difference between life and death.
Annabelle Gascoyne was diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension,a rare and progressive illness. With limited treatment options, a lung transplant was her only hope for survival. The family waited a year for a donor,knowing the call could come at any moment – or never. Now, Sarah Gascoyne, 50, is sharing their story as a new push for organ donation awareness follows a recent BBC examination revealing a growing trend of families declining organ donation requests,often due to uncertainty about their loved one’s wishes.
“There wasn’t much hope,” Sarah recalls of the time leading up to the transplant. ”at the time, it was a terminal illness.”
The bleeper that signaled a potential donor arrived after months of anxious waiting. Annabelle was instantly transported from Grantham to Grate Ormond Street Hospital in london. Despite the swift action, doctors cautioned the family that survival was far from guaranteed.
“She was so small and so young, and they’d never done anybody of that size and age for her condition and what she was receiving before,” says Sarah.
After an eight-hour operation, the family received the news they had desperately hoped for: the transplant had been triumphant.
Two decades later, Annabelle is thriving, and Sarah is determined to ensure other families don’t face the same agonizing uncertainty. She hopes sharing their experience will inspire vital conversations about organ donation and ultimately save more lives.
