A Shropshire couple whose son died aged just two are urging others to give a gift that money can’t buy this Christmas and sign up to the donor register.
While Karen and Colin Prior, of Monkmoor, Shrewsbury, are determined to get into the festive spirit, Christmas will be tinged with sadness as the only gift they ever really wanted - a new heart for their baby son Lewis - never came.
This is the second Christmas Kelly, 18, Andy, 16, and Tom, seven, will be facing without their youngest brother, who after months waiting desperately for a heart transplant died in April 2004.
“Christmas really does bring it home to us just who we have lost. To be honest we still have good and bad days all year round but family celebrations and special occasions such as Christmas are the worst,” said Mrs Prior.
Lewis was born on August 5, 2001. He was diagnosed with hypo-plastic left heart syndrome and had major open heart surgery at just 10 days old.
In December 2003 his condition deteriorated rapidly and he was placed on the urgent list for a heart transplant. But a donor wasn’t found and Lewis lost his fight for life on April 6, 2004.
The family intend to keep Lewis’s memory alive through the Lewis Prior Memorial Fund.
The Prior family is also backing the UK’s Live Life Then Give Life Campaign.
People can sign up online by visiting www.uktransplant.org.uk or by phoning the Organ Donor Line on 0845 6060400.
Picture: Colin, Tom and Karen Prior.
By Alys Cummings
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