Wearside heart transplant hero Beatrix celebrates her 3rd birthday

Brave Beatrix Archbold - the little girl with a new heart - has celebrated her third birthday.

The Wearside youngster had a party with a theme of Bluey the playful dog from the TV show.

It was messy and lots of Beatrix's friends were there to help her celebrate on a day filled with fun.

She wore a T-shirt which had a message on it, saying: "Hero inside. A donor saved my life'.

'We had no idea she would make it to where she is now'

Dad Terry took a moment to tell the Sunderland Echo how important the day was.

'"This time last year, we had no idea she would make it to where she is now. Look at how full of life she is. That is the beauty of it all."

It was in June of last year that the Sunderland Echo reported the joyful moment when mum Cheryl, from Roker, and dad Terry, told their daughter that she was going to have a heart transplant.

Parents who have tirelessly tried to help others

She had a 10-hour operation and soon after, went home after spending 15 months attached to tubes at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

Terry and Cheryl never forgotten the importance of awareness of organ donations.

Their own daughter Isabel was stillborn and the couple agreed her heart could be donated for medical research.

Jumping from 10,000ft

Terry is raising funds and awareness through a skydive from Shotton airfield in September.

Up to 60 people can take part on Saturday, September 21, when money will be raised for the Red Sky Foundation.

Cheryl, meanwhile, has arranged for hundreds of motor cyclists to be there to provide a spectacle on the ground at the same time.

Terry said: "The airfield has agreed to let us use pink smoke. We will have everyone in pink clothing for organ donation awareness.

'I want this to be something big'

"I want this to be something big and I want to raise money for some of the charities that have helped us. We are very passionate about the Red Sky Foundation."

Beatrix's story first unfolded in May 2022. The Archbold family, who live in Burnopfield, had returned from a trip to Disney World in Florida and thought Beatrix caught Covid.

She had stopped drinking, had a rash on her neck and the family dialled 111.

After going to A&E, a doctor at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead detected a heart murmur. Tests showed one side of her heart was enlarged and not functioning properly.

She had an operation to fit a line into her body so she could receive medication but she had a cardiac arrest and was saved by expert surgeons at the Freeman Hospital who performed open heart surgery.

Beatrix spent months in hospital where she learned to walk and said her first words.

A little girl with a bright future

Now she's home and making great progress.

Once she reaches the 12-month anniversary of her heart transplant, she can look forward to exciting travels with her family to the Scottish Highlands and possibly Disneyland Paris.

Just before Christmas, Terry said: "She is a little girl with a future ahead of her."

Join the NHS Organ Donor Register at www.organdonation.nhs.uk. To take part in the sky dive, visit https://register.enthuse.com/ps/event/RedSkyDive