Ten-year-old Trinity of Kirkstead Junior Academy wants you to register as an organ donor!
Trinity Walters is a pupil at Kirkstead Junior Academy has just reached the milestone of ten years old. But Trinity wants the world to know, that she owes the gift of her life to the doctors and organ donors who have kept her, like her school trust’s motto, flying high and healthy all of her life.
Trinity’s mum, Leonna Walters said she noticed Trinity wasn’t well at two weeks old. “We noticed she was jaundiced, which can be normal for a baby except she was getting worse and worse. We took her to Kings Mill hospital and it came back that her liver was not working correctly. She was admitted for a week where they ran tests and then we were sent to a specialist liver unit at University Hospital Birmingham.” Leonna says at this point she felt she was in a daze, “She was my first child and now they were saying that she is very ill. It was a whirlwind. After lots of tests, including some medical samples being sent to Germany, we were told that Trinity’s liver was too badly damaged and there was nothing they could do to repair it. She needed an urgent transplant.”
Leonna says that it was at that point that she and her family realised just how important the donor register is. “She was put on a super-urgent list, and children often don’t have to wait too long on that, but because Trinity was so small at 4lbs they found it really difficult to find a liver and we waited 22 days. It was awful because she was having transfusions daily and had pipes everywhere, it was really difficult.”
Trinity’s first operation, Doctors warned would buy time, but might not work on a permanent basis, meaning more procedures for Trinity. Leonna said “During the operation she was given a whole transfusion and it changed her blood type to match the liver.” Trinity not only came through this procedure well, but many more afterwards, though she still has regular check-ups and blood tests every month.
Leonna said that the very first transplant became available the very day that her husband filled out donor cards for the whole family. “Before this we never really thought about the donor register. My husband filled out our cards while we were at the hospital and it was the same afternoon that the notification came that we had a liver for her. It’s so important to think about donating organs to people who are desperate for them and whose life might depend on them.”
Trinity is now something of an ambassador for the cause and her school held an assembly to teach children about the issues. Trinity said, “I think it’s important that people should know about it because it saves peoples lives.” Trinity also has a message for anyone who might have to go into hospital and is worried about it. “I would tell them not to worry about it because Doctors are trained to make you feel better!”
Trinity says despite her ongoing health problems, she takes it in her stride and gets on with it. “I want to be an artist, a makeup artist and an astronomer! I love art at school and Mr Dickson is my favourite Teacher because he is really funny and good at art as well.” Trinity says that she believes that everyone should think about becoming a donor, to help the doctors who help people like her. “Everyone who was a donor and all of my doctor’s have done their best to help me. That’s why I don’t let my problems get in the way even though I still bring medicines to school and an EpiPen because I have lots of allergies. Doctors try to help so you shouldn’t be afraid. My favourite Doctor was Dr Ravenscroft, because she was really nice and knew a lot about me. She gave me medicines to make me feel better.”
Karen Slater (Head of School) at Kirkstead Junior Academy says Trinity is an inspiration to staff and pupils alike. “Our school is a part of the Flying High Partnership which has member schools all over Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and we are working with Trinity to spread her message of hope and resilience to all of our fellow Trust schools. She is such an inspiration to all of us and truly reflects the ethos we all hold dear and we want to help her to spread the message of registering as an organ donor so that more people are given the gift of health as she was. Trinity’s message should be spread far and wide and if anyone can achieve that, well Trinity can!”
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