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Behind the heroic act: The heartbreaking story of the youngest organ donor in Britain
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Teddy Houlston would have celebrated his first birthday this year with his family and twin brother. But he was not able to live for an entire day; baby Teddy was diagnosed with a condition called anencephaly within twelve weeks inside his mother's womb. Heartbreaking and devastating news, yet his family decided that his short precious life wouldn't be put into waste --- Teddy Houlston became the youngest organ donor in the United Kingdom.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
4/24/2015 (1 decade ago)
Published in Health
Keywords: Teddy Houlston, UK, Youngest Organ Donor, Organ Donation, Anencephaly, Medical Community, Life, Saving, Heroic, Story, Heartbreaking
span style="line-height: 15.8599996566772px;">MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - "Following Teddy's diagnosis we had some time to acclimatise to what might happen, therefore we decided early on as a family that we would want to go ahead with the pregnancy and donate his organs if this was possible," his mother, Jess, said in a statement to NHS.
Teddy was born without parts of the brain and skull, and was expected only to live for hours. The news came across as heartbreaking, knowing they would never be able to bring him home or see him grow up, but Teddy's family is determined to look on the bright side.
Amidst all the sadness, the family had a simple wish for Teddy --- meeting and spending time together with his twin Noah, who fortunately did not share the same condition. After a couple of hours, Teddy died, leaving his family coping, knowing he was able to live through another person and save a life.
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"There was so much sadness and so much joy as well that he had just achieved something that we didn't think was going to happen," said Jess.
His kidneys were successfully transplanted into an adult. The Houlston family, along with the many members of the medical community, are sharing the heroic story in hopes to encourage others to sign up as donors. "Do it for Teddy," they say
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