Heart baby parents in donor plea

Doctors say Gabriella has about six months to live

A couple whose daughter has been given six months to live have urged more bereaved parents to consider donating their baby's organs for transplants.

One-year-old Gabriella Filarowski, from Leeds, was born with heart abnormalities and needs a transplant.

She has been on a waiting list since October and is receiving treatment at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.

Her parents Andrew and Angela said she was "pretty poorly" and there was "no other hope for her".

Gabriella has Double Inlet Right Ventricle, a very rare heart defect.

Success hope

She was initially being treated at Leeds General Infirmary, but was transferred to the Newcastle hospital when doctors realised that she needed a transplant.

Last week two sick babies received new hearts within minutes of each other at the Tyneside hospital, and her parents said witnessing that had given them hope for their daughter.

The couple have been waiting since October for a transplant

Mr Filarowski told BBC News it was hard to lead a normal life and he constantly had to check his mobile phone for calls from the hospital so he did not "miss the opportunity" for a transplant.

He said: "She's pretty poorly.

"In the last few months we have seen four relatively young children have hearts and have their transplants so it's wonderful to see that they have progressed.

"That's given us more hope that it will be successful when she has her heart transplant."

Mr Filarowski said he could "fully understand" why bereaved parents did not consider giving up their baby's organs.

He said: "Until we were in this situation we probably would have never considered giving up any part of Gabriella to be used as a transplant and yet there is no other hope for her.

"We have been told she has probably six months to live and so we need that heart and if there's a chance of continuing somebody's life surely that's got to give some sort of feeling of a young child's short life being of use for the future."