Harlee's story
It was just a normal evening in June 2020 when my family's life changed forever. Our beautiful son Harlee, aged just 11, was rushed into hospital after coming downstairs with what we originally thought was just a headache. One minute I'm talking to him, the next I'm giving him CPR while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
Harlee was rushed into hospital and straight into an operation, followed by an agonising 10-hour wait, sat with our family, hoping and praying everything was going to be okay.
Harlee was on the PICU ward at Southampton General Hospital for three days. We were hoping he would improve, looking for any little sign, talking to him and touching him, waiting for him to open his eyes and ask to go home. Unfortunately, we were then told there wasn't any more the doctors and nurses could do, and that it was time to let him go.
We were told that Harlee had suffered an undiagnosed AVM attached to the brainstem, which caused an inoperable haemorrhage.
We were, and still are, absolutely heartbroken. Harlee was the eldest of four and has left behind his three younger siblings, Louie, Elsie-Maè and Niàmh. He was loving, caring and always smiling, an easy-going boy who loved and doted on his siblings. He was loved by his whole family, who all miss him desperately.
He enjoyed playing in his football team and loved the Xbox.
On that terrible day, my husband Ryan (Harlee's father) and I had a very hard decision to make, and we decided to donate Harlee's organs.
Our family and friends have told us how brave we were to make this decision, but our children had always known how important organ donation was. Harlee's godmother was waiting for a double lung and heart transplant herself, and Harlee had said to us, "When I'm old I would put myself on the organ donor list."
Our little hero went on to save the lives of six people. When we received a beautiful letter from one of the recipients, it was truly the best feeling, just to know that our son really is a hero. Even though he could no longer be with us, he is now making a life-changing miracle for someone else.
We think about the recipients a lot and hope they are all doing well and living their lives to the full. This is exactly what Harlee would have wanted them to do.
