A five-year-old girl, Georgia Kirchin, is asking Santa Clause for a new heart for Christmas, as time is running out to solve her life-threatening condition.
Georgia who developed cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, in 2019 has been living day-by-day as she waits for a child’s heart on the NHS donor list to replace hers.
She was added to the list by doctors in October last year, a list which she has been on ever since.
Her family is making the most of this Christmas as they fear it could be Georgia’s last.
They’ve already spent more than a year waiting for a suitable organ to become available.
Georgia’s big sister Millie, 10, has joined her in asking Santa to find Georgia a new heart as her Christmas present.
Mum Jodie, 32, said, "We don’t know how many more Christmases we’re going to get.
"Our Christmas wish is for Georgia to get her new heart. Last year we thought maybe by this Christmas, now we think maybe by next Christmas.
"We try and take each day and carry on as normally as possible, we keep positive and really value everything."
Georgia was rushed to hospital with breathing difficulties when she was just five days old and diagnosed with a heart valve defect, a hole in her heart, and an under-size left pumping chamber.
Before she was five months old, Georgia’s heart valve was replaced with a donated one.
But the operation led to half of her right foot needing amputating due to drugs leaking on to her skin during surgery.
Jodie, who lives with husband Adam, 31, and their two kids in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, said, "I’m grateful to have her at home with us and for every Christmas.
"It puts it all into perspective, it’s not about presents, food or decorations, but being together.
"It’s another year of her waiting and she’s not getting any better, it’s really hard. It’s scary, at the moment Georgia is stable but if she deteriorates quickly, they can’t just order a heart."
