A newborn baby became the UK’s youngest-ever organ donor last year.
Teddy Houlston lived for just 100 minutes on April 22nd, 2014 but he managed to do something that most of us never will – he became a lifesaver when his donated kidneys were used to save an adult’s life in Leeds.
His parents, Mike Houlston and Jess Evans, said “He lived and died a hero. It’s impossible to explain how proud we are of him.”
Teddy’s story has captured the heart of the public, not least because babies like him, diagnosed with anencephaly are usually aborted in the UK where abortion is legal up to birth if there is any disability. However, his mother, who was also pregnant with Teddy’s twin Noah, decided against abortion.
Even though she described the diagnosis as “soul-destroying”, she continued “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.”
Organ donation was something that she had always felt strongly about and when pioneering doctors at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, carried out the difficult surgery successfully, Mike Houlston said that they never doubted that Teddy would achieve this last hurdle.
Their son is very much part of their lives, said Ms. Evans, adding “We talk of him every day, our children talk of him, our families do, we always remember him, he is with us all the time.”
She said the family visited Teddy’s grave on what would have been his first birthday, bringing his surviving twin, Noah to visit him too.
“Although he wasn’t with us very long, and we brought him into the world knowing there was no hope of a life for him, we are incredibly proud of his heroism.”