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Teenage girl helped save a record eight lives after donating organs

A 13-year-old girl who died of a brain aneurysm in Britain has helped eight people through organ ...
Newstalk
Newstalk

08.29 8 Sep 2017


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Teenage girl helped save a rec...

Teenage girl helped save a record eight lives after donating organs

Newstalk
Newstalk

08.29 8 Sep 2017


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A 13-year-old girl who died of a brain aneurysm in Britain has helped eight people through organ donation - the highest number on record there.

Jemima Layzell, from Horton in Somerset, collapsed during party preparations for her mother's 38th birthday in March 2012. She died four days later.

The teenager donated her heart, small bowel, pancreas, kidneys, lungs, and liver to eight recipients, including five children, across the UK.

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Her parents said Jemima would have been "very proud of her legacy".

Her mother, Sophy Layzell, said: "We knew Jemima was willing to be a donor following a conversation about it a couple of weeks before her unexpected death.

"The conversation was prompted by the death of someone we knew in a crash.

"They were on the register but their organs couldn't be donated because of the circumstances of their death.

"Jemima had never heard of organ donation before and found it a little bit unsettling but totally understood the importance of it.

"We found the decision to donate Jemima's organs hard but we both felt it was right and we knew she was in favour of donation."

She added: "We had no idea Jemima was the only person whose organs were transplanted into eight different people until NHS Blood and Transplant told us.

"Everyone wants their child to be special and unique and this among other things makes us very proud."

According to Britain's NHS Blood and Transplant, 457 people died waiting for a transplant last year, including 14 children.

There are currently 6,414 people on the transplant waiting list, including 176 children.


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