A TEN-year-old girl from Poole is wishing for a life-saving lung transplant for Christmas to raise awareness of the need for more child organ donors.

Sophie Joscelyne was diagnosed with health problems in the womb and has been waiting for a lung transplant and heart surgery since May 2023.

Laura Gilbert, Sophie’s mum, said she underwent artery surgery at just eight weeks old and was due to have a full cardiac repair before she was diagnosed with high blood pressure in the lungs at 14 months old.

Bournemouth Echo: Laura Gilbert and Sophie Joscelyne

This meant further surgery was too risky for Sophie and since she has grown, she is unable to have any more treatment for her lung condition.

Sophie is now waiting for a lung transplant and cardiac repair before her heart function deteriorates.

Laura said: “Waiting is hard to describe, you obviously have to try and live life on the list but the thought that Sophie's life could change at any moment never leaves your mind.

“We try to do as many 'normal' things and still make memories, but you've got to be ready at any moment.”

She added that Sophie suffers from migraines and gets extremely tired, restricting her from physical activity.

“She misses out on a lot of things with her friends and at school because she's too poorly to do a lot,” said Laura.

“It is such a hard ask, to ask parents at such a traumatic time to consider organ donation.

“I can't imagine having to have that conversation, even though we've had to have the opposite conversation, that for a longer-term future, we need someone to pass away and agree for donation, and if that doesn't happen then we have no more treatment available.

Laura is encouraging other parents to have a conversation with their children, when of an appropriate age, and to make an informed decision at a less emotive time. 

Bournemouth Echo: Sophie's doll in 'Waiting to Live' campaign

As part of the ‘Waiting to Live’ campaign, Sophie and 15 other children are being transformed into handmade dolls to raise awareness of the need for child organ donors.

The dolls will be placed across the country and will wear a QR code badge, where passers-by can hear stories of children waiting for transplants across the UK.

Sophie’s doll is being hosted by Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where she will have her double lung transplant when they find a donor.

Wunderman Thompson, a global creative agency, is running the campaign with NHS Blood and Transplant.

To learn more about the children waiting for transplants, hear their stories and add apply to the NHS Organ Donor Register, search for the Waiting to Live campaign online.