Up until three months ago, little Aaron Vincent was a boisterous three-year-old who loved playing football.
But, unlike most toddlers, his Christmas list this year features only one present – the gift of life.
He suffers from a rare heart condition and is now desperately waiting for news of a possible transplant.
Until then he will be kept alive in hospital by a mechanical heart.
The Berlin heart – as it is known – is a machine that helps pump the blood round his body.
More importantly, it will buy little Aaron the precious time he so desperately needs to find a suitable donor.
Today his mother Andrea Middlemass, 34, spoke of how the family were planning to sit round his hospital bedside this year to celebrate Christmas Day.
‘This has all just happened in the past 12 weeks,’ she said. ‘I feel like my feet haven’t touched the ground.
‘Aaron knows something is happening but he doesn’t understand what is going on. I have told him he has a poorly heart and he needs a new one.
‘I have to stay strong for Aaron now. It is no good falling apart.
‘We need him to get well and to come home.’
But in an impassioned plea she begged: ‘Please help give my son the gift of life this Christmas.’
When Aaron fell ill in September, doctors at Sunderland Royal Hospital initially suspected that it was related to asthma.
But after carrying out an ultrasound test they discovered that he had an enlarged heart.
Little Aaron, from Easington Lane, County Durham, was immediately transferred to a specialist unit at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.
He was placed on the transplant list and, because of the severity of his condition, was connected to a Berlin heart to support his ailing organ.
‘They then told me that, worst-case scenario, he would need a new heart,’ his mother said.
‘It turned out to be a worst-case scenario. At least the Berlin heart has made him stable and he can breathe better – it is now just a matter of waiting.’
Miss Middlemass, who also has daughters Nicole, 15, Sophie, 11, and a son, Callum, nine, added: ‘It’s awful to think that someone has to die in order for my son to get a heart.
‘That’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about in the past few days. Just 12 weeks ago, Aaron was a happy, healthy three-year-old – a cheeky little chappy who loved playing football and being boisterous.’
Specialists expect Aaron to remain on the Berlin heart until a suitable donor can be found. There is no knowing how long that may take.
‘I never gave organ donation a second thought before,’ said Miss Middlemass.
‘But when I look around me in this hospital and see all these children’s faces, all these teenagers’ faces, I realise how important it is.’
Neil Wrightson, a transplant co-ordinator at the Freeman Hospital, said Aaron is one of five children under 16 at the hospital who are each hoping for a new heart for Christmas.
In an average year, surgeons at the Freeman Hospital expect to carry out ten to 16 transplants.
Since April they have performed 12 while 20 adults are currently waiting for a new heart.
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