The parents of an 11-week-old baby who urgently needs a heart transplant are urging people to consider organ donation.

William Jones was diagnosed with a rare disease when he was just a few weeks old.

His heart muscle is thin and stretched and cannot pump blood properly throughout his body.

He is currently the youngest child in the UK on the waiting list for an urgent heart transplant.

Any organ donated would have to come from a baby of similar size and weight to the 11-week-old baby.

Now parents Laura Osborne and Stuart Jones from Hemel Hempstead are using their first child’s plight to urge others to register as organ donors.

Laura, 35, said: “I have been registered as an organ donor for a long time, but I had never thought that children could donate.

“Now we depend on the family’s consent to the donation – William has no future without a heart transplant.

“Hearts the size of William’s don’t come around very often.

“We hope that people will see his story and think about organ donation.”

She added: “We are terribly afraid that his condition could worsen at any time… I don’t know if my baby will survive this or not. But he is here, you can see the fighting spirit in him.”

He is currently being treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Laura’s pregnancy went smoothly and William was born by emergency caesarean section. At home, however, he had trouble drinking and was very sleepy. In hospital, he was eventually diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy.

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Angie Scales, lead nurse for children’s organ donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “For William and many other children awaiting a life-saving transplant, their only hope is that the parents of another child will agree to organ donation at a time of great grief and personal bereavement.”

“We urge parents to think and talk about organ donation for themselves and their families today. Your decision could help save lives.”

There are currently more than 7,000 people in the UK, including 250 children, waiting for an organ transplant.

Almost 300 patients require a heart transplant, including 38 children.

(c) Sky News 2024: Parents of 11-week-old baby in urgent need of heart transplant urge people to become donors