Children are waiting two and a half times longer than adults for life-saving organ donations, NHS figures show.
Adults on the urgent list, which covers the most life-threatening cases, wait on average 29 days for a new heart.
By comparison, NHS Blood and Transplant statistics released today reveal the average wait is 70 days for children.
The parents of a deceased child are less likely to consent to their organs being donated than they are for other relatives.
Anthony Clarkson, interim director of NHSBT, said the ‘natural desire’ to protect children stops most parents from giving their consent.
Eight-month-old Harry Clarke suffers from dilated cardiomyopathy, which has caused his heart’s main chamber to enlarge and weaken, reducing its ability to pump blood. Harry’s mother Kerrie Short has been told an organ transplant is her son’s only hope of surviving
He said: ‘More research is needed to fully to understand this reasons for this, but we know how incredibly hard it is for a parent to lose a child.
‘The natural desire to protect your child can lead some parents not wanting to consider donation, especially if they have never discussed it before.
‘However we know parents who donate take enormous pride and comfort from knowing they have saved other children’s lives.’
Just 48 per cent of families would consider donating a child’s organs after their tragic passing, according to the figures.
However, the figure jumps to 66 per cent if it was an adult relative who passed away.
This is despite many children on the urgent transplant waiting list pinning all their hopes on the parents of another youngster consenting for their organs to be donated.
Hearts and lungs, for example, must be matched by size due to the limited space inside a child’s chest.
Angie Scales, from NHSBT, said: ‘Organ donation can offer comfort to the families of donors through the knowledge that something remarkable came from their loss.’
Last year, just 57 donors were aged 17 or under, according to NHSBT, which oversees organ donations across the UK.
In the last three years, 46 children have died while on the transplant waiting list. Of these, 30 were waiting for a heart or lung transplant.
Angie Scales, lead nurse for paediatric donation at NHSBT, said: ‘For many children on the transplant waiting list, their only hope is the parent of another child saying “yes” to organ donation at a time of terrible personal grief.
‘There are many children alive today thanks to parents making the decision to donate when saying goodbye to their own child.
‘Organ donation can offer comfort to the families of donors through the knowledge that something remarkable came from their loss.’
The parents of a deceased child are significantly less likely to consent to their organs being donated than they are for other relatives, new figures suggest (stock)
‘Words save lives and we’d ask families this Organ Donation Week to talk about whether they’d want to save lives through organ donation if the unthinkable happened.
‘We know that many children respond positively to the idea of organ donation so please talk about this important and lifesaving subject.’
A mother have been told that the only hope her eight-month-old son has of surviving is a heart transplant.
Harry Clarke, from Birmingham, suffers from dilated cardiomyopathy, which has enlarged and weakened his heart’s main pumping chamber, reducing its ability to pump blood around the body.
His mother Kerrie Short said: ‘We’d hope that family can look at it as an opportunity for their heart to live on through our son.
‘Looking at him without his wires, you wouldn’t know he was ill some days.
‘Until you go through this and see how many babies are suffering with heart problems, considering organ donation probably doesn’t even cross your mind but it’s really important to have those conversations.’
Children can join the NHS Organ Donor Register but their parents must give consent after they die. Youngsters in Scotland can ‘self-authorise’ from 12 years old.
Parents can also choose to add their children to the NHS organ Donor Register at any age.
The NHSBT is encouraging people to sign up to the register and talk to their loved ones about their intention to become an organ donor in the event of their death.