Major organ donor development headed by team that saved Mirror boy Max Johnson

The hospital team that saved the life of Mirror campaigner Max Johnson is leading a national crusade to save more organs for transplants. The Freeman in Newcastle upon Tyne will use new methods to preserve organs such as lungs, livers and kidneys for longer. The NHS Blood and Transplant agency says waiting lists have hit "record highs". Experts believe the new data recorded for mortality rates for each individual NHS surgeon has hit the number of operations carried out. The pilot centres will trial techniques that will enable donor organs to remain viable longer and allow vital tests to be carried out. These include a method known as perfusion, which circulates oxygen-rich blood or other "nutrient-rich fluid" through the organs. The Freeman team saved Max during an operation filmed live for a 2018 TV documentary. Max's heart surgeon Asif Hasan said: "He was in imminent danger of death. We thought his heart would stop at any stage." Millions of viewers saw Max, then aged nine, connected to the heart pump that kept him alive for the seven months before the donor organ - a "perfect match" - arrived at the hospital in Newcastle in August, 2017. The heart, from nine-year-old Keira Ball, had travelled 400 miles from a hospital in Devon. In a last-minute moment of drama before the transplant is due to start, the theatre falls silent as Max's pulmonary artery pumps blood. Mr Hasan, one of the UK's leading heart surgeons, was a picture of calm as he struggled to save the youngster's life. Max's chest, open without his heart inside, appeared on screen while machines kept him alive. New methods could lead to the world's first national network dedicated to "reconditioning" organs. It follows the example of Spain, seen as the gold standard nation for transplantation, where older donors give organs for use in transplants. The opt-out law - introduced in England following a Mirror campaign - has changed the culture and attitude of its people toward organ donation. Profusion could enable up to 750 extra life-saving and life-improving transplants every year and was pioneered on Tyneside. It could mean 202 more liver transplants, up to 202 more lung transplants and up to 345 additional kidney transplants as a result. Rob Harrison, acting chief executive at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Freeman, said: "Newcastle has been at the forefront of innovation in organ perfusion since performing the UK's first lung perfusion transplant in 2009. "Whilst we are still very much in the early stages as a pilot site, this scheme gives us the chance to use our expertise to help transform transplant care nationwide. "By dramatically extending how long organs remain viable and giving teams the ability to test them properly, perfusion could save hundreds more lives every year." Derek Manas, medical director for organ and tissue donation and transplantation at NHSBT, said: "The standard currently is to put all organs in a box of ice. "What the perfusion machines will do is give us more time to keep the organs viable. So you can keep organs on a machine until the theatre, surgeons, and anaesthetic staff are available. The length of time will depend on each organ." Health Minister Dr Zubir Ahmed, a transplant surgeon himself, said: "This programme could mean saving and transforming hundreds of lives that might otherwise have been lost. As a transplant surgeon, I know firsthand what that can mean for patients and families The transplant centres acting as pilot sites for kidneys are Cambridge, Newcastle, Oxford, Edinburgh, Royal Free, Manchester and Hammersmith. The Mirror Change the Law for Life campaign brought the opt-out system for organ donation to England in May, 2020. The new law presumes people in England are donors unless they opt out of the system; loved ones' consent is always sought before donation. *Visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk