A three-year-old boy from Surrey will finally be able to experience his first 'proper Christmas ' after receiving a life-saving organ transplant. There will be many gifts given out this festive season, however the gift Ralf received this year is possibly the most priceless of all, and his family have said it has allowed him to finally be "the boy he was always meant to be".
This year, Ralf will be able celebrate Christmas to its fullest. His family have said this will be first time he has been able to take part in classic festive activities such as seeing Father Christmas, singing carols and visiting Christmas markets.
Ralf was born with a genetic condition which meant he has required a liver transplant for much of his life. His family say they will be forever indebted to his donor and their family. His mother, Daisy said: "Every laugh and happy moment Ralf has had since the summer is due to what his donor and their family have given."
Ralf had to wait two years to find a donor for his liver transplant, his mother said saying during that time: "we had to watch our child get sicker and sicker and more and more unhappy; moving further away from others his own age, both developmentally and physically."
She added the constant potential of getting a call that a donor was available took a mental toll on those close to Ralf. The 36-year-old said: "It was the hardest thing we have ever done. You can't be more than an hour from home, and you always have to have your phone with you, on loud, and with signal, 24 -hours a day, for around two years of waiting."
Christmas was an especially hard time for his parents as contracting any winter bugs or illnesses would jeopardise the safety of any surgeries, leaving Ralf temporarily suspended from the transplant waiting list. This meant even during the festive season, their family had to shield themselves from friends and loved ones.
Daisy added: “Fear was a big part of our everyday lives; whilst we waited and could do nothing"
In summer of 2024, a donor finally became available for Ralf and he received a life-saving liver transplant just in time for Christmas. Ralf's mother has said since his transplant, the difference in her son's character "could not be more dramatic".
She added: "I once heard a Dr describe liver disease as 'like being alive but not living'. Ralf is now living, and living fully,"
Seeing your child grow up is something many take for advantage, many parents even secretly wish their children wouldn't grow up. But for Ralf's family, every milestone on the horizon "feels like such a privilege". While the 'big things' are important, Daisy said that her and her husband savour even the smallest things in their son's life since his liver transplant.
She added: "We would daydream about what Ralf might be like and how our lives would look afterwards, and mostly, this would be about 'big' things. Me and my husband literally sometimes just sit and watch him eat; he never had an appetite before. I relish the days I have to clean his face because it's covered with bits of dinner!
“We get excited that his socks get holes in because he runs around so much, that his wellies are covered in mud because now he goes and plays outside and jumps in puddles, that our living room is always a mess because he actually plays with all his toys,"
Ralf will turn four years old in September 2025, meaning soon he will be old enough to start going to school. Daisy added: "Before the transplant, school seemed literally impossible, something he physically wouldn't have been able to handle, but now, it feels like such a privilege that this is something on his horizon."
During the wait for his transplant, Ralf was a part of the Waiting to Live campaign, an initiative supported by NHS Blood and Transplant which aims to highlight the hundreds of children waiting for a transplant and encourage people to consider the incredible contribution one can have on another's life through organ donation.
This campaign involved creating handmade dolls of a group of children who urgently required organ transplants to spread awareness of these children and their heartbreaking situations. This award-winning national campaign has gone onto see half of the group of children receive organ transplants, one of which was Ralf.
280 children on the waiting list for life-changing organ transplants
But as of the start of December, there are still 280 children in the UK that are on the waiting list for life-changing organ transplants. Meaning it is likely another Christmas will pass where these young ones will not receive the one gift they so greatly require to save their lives.
"For many children on the transplant waiting list, their only hope is the parents of another child saying 'yes' to organ donation at a time of immense sadness and personal grief." said Anthony Clarkson, director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant.
To support donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register, visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk
