Baby lived only 100 hours yet his story inspired hundreds of thousands

05.05.2016

On April 22, 2014, a couple from Cardiff, Jess Evans and Mike Houlston, gave birth to twins. During pregnancy, doctors said that one of the babies had anencephaly. It is a rare disease where the skull bones and brain do not develop. Usually, such babies are unconscious and do not feel pain. They live about a week, and this disease is a reason to terminate the pregnancy.

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Photo: co.uk

However, Jess and Mike decided not to have an abortion, but to donate the baby`s organs for transplantation to other people after his death. Miraculously, the little donor`s brother was born completely healthy; he is now two years old.

Photo: co.uk

Ted Houlston lived only 100 hours after his birth, less than 5 days... After the baby died, doctors at Cardiff Hospital performed an operation to retrieve the boy`s kidneys and heart valve. His organs saved the life of a man diagnosed with kidney failure.

Photo: co.uk

Ted`s parents told journalists about their situation. At that moment, Ted was the youngest donor in world history, but in December 2015, the parents of a girl named Hope (translated from English - `hope`), who died from anencephaly immediately after birth, also donated her organs for transplantation.

Photo: co.uk

At the same time, in December 2015, the Houlston family`s friends, 43-year-old Stuart and 7-year-old Fraser Bates, died in a car accident. Fraser`s mother, Anna-Louise, remembering Ted, willed her deceased son to be a donor. Jess Evans and Mike Houlston know of 8 people whose lives were saved by their son`s story, but in reality, there are many more such people.

Photo: co.uk

From the moment Ted`s story became known to the public, about 100 thousand Britons willed their organs for transplantation after death.