"'Someday, I would like to see the seven wonders of the world, go walking in the Pyrenees between France and Spain, eat a pizza in Sorrento, and feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, London. I would love to see Disney World and hold hands with Donald Duck and Micky Mouse as the three of us eat a big ice cream! Oh, if only I could do these things and visit those places, someday! If only?'
'But the doctor says that unless I am offered a heart replacement soon, visiting these places will remain nothing more than a dream. They will remain places I will never see. And unless I get a donor soon, there will be so much more I will never see. I won't even see my sixth birthday, which is only four months away!'
'It's just not fair! I'm only five and haven't been at First School long enough yet to take part in Sport's Day and run in a three-legged race or come first in the egg and spoon run. My form teacher, Miss Wigglesworth, who is the cleverest person in the whole wide world, and who knows everything, told our class she has so much to teach us, and that if she taught us all she knew, we'd be one hundred years old before we started to forget everything we'd ever learned!'
'Even my mummy and daddy don't smile as often as they used to and they are always talking secretly so I can't hear them. Often, when mummy walks me to school on a morning, she always has a little cry after she has seen me to the cloakroom and leaves me at my classroom door. She thinks I never see her cry alone, but I always do. Then, I also have a little cry before Miss Wigglesworth calls out our names in the morning roll call. Me and mummy would have been far better crying together; at least we could cuddle each other and tell each other what we are crying about!'
'My school friend, Bessie Braddock, told the class yesterday that her mummy is 'pregnant' and that she will soon have a baby brother to boss around. I don't know what 'pregnant' means, but I think it's when you have a fat tummy. I asked my mummy if I would ever have a baby brother, but she didn't know the answer. She just looked across at daddy and started to cry again.Then my daddy started to cry, and before long, all three of us were crying over nothing! If I ask Miss Wigglesworth, she'll tell me if I'll ever have a baby brother. Miss Wigglesworth is the cleverest person in the whole wide world and she knows everything.'
Please, have a heart by giving yours to someone else when you no longer need it. Give hope to someone, by giving them a new life; a life to one day see those places that I will never see and do those things I will never do. Please sign a donor card today. It may be too late for me, but there are other little girls and boys out there who are like me, and who deserve to do all those things, see all those places, and hold hands with a little brother. There are also mummies and daddies who also need a new heart. Please.... please don't sit on the fence a moment longer. Sign that donor card today!" William Forde: November 24th, 2017.