It’s Alfie Barraclough’s 18th birthday this year. For this milestone birthday, his parents, Cathy and Nigel, and older brother Todd, along with their family and friends are celebrating his incredible legacy.
Alfie saved the lives of five people when he became an organ donor in 2015, after he died aged just 9.
Cathy Barraclough, Alfie’s mum, still finds it’s difficult to speak of her youngest son, but speaks incredibly highly of him:
“What do you say about Alfie? He lived his life in the fast lane. He was always on the go. He wanted to do everything himself. A busy little bee.”
Alfie had just finished school for the Christmas holidays when he felt poorly with a headache, but he felt better after some medicine. However, that evening Alfie closed his eyes forever.
Sadly, Alfie had a catastrophic brain bleed. Something that couldn’t be predicted or fixed, and while the team at Bradford Royal Infirmary and Leeds Children’s Hospital tried everything they could, Alfie died on the 23rd December 2015.
Cathy recalls: “How has my son died of a headache? It didn’t make any sense.
The team asked us about organ donation and whether we had thought about it. We hadn’t. It never crosses your mind that you’ll ever have to make those kind of decisions for your children.
Alfie was a loving little boy. He loved life.
Organ donation was the only thing that could ever make sense of something like this.”
Thanks to Cathy and Nigel’s brave decision on behalf of their Alfie, he went on to donate his heart, lungs, kidneys and liver saving the lives of five people on Christmas Day. The most incredible gift.
“Alfie’s legacy lives on. Ultimately his legacy is to stop other families going through the same pain we have.”
Now Cathy, Nigel and older brother Todd find themselves celebrating birthdays and Christmas without the youngest of the family – who will always be nine (and an important half).
In commemoration of Alfie’s 18th year, colleagues at NHS Blood and Transplant and Leeds Hospitals unveiled a special memorial plaque for him.
This will stand as a permanent reminder of the good and the joy that Alfie brought to so many people’s lives, before and after his death.
Cathy remarks: “Alfie is our hero. Losing him didn’t make any sense, but donating his organs did.”
Thanks to heroes like Alfie and his family, more than 200 people received life-saving organ transplants last year in Leeds alone.
Share your wishes – www.organdonation.nhs.uk