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Epping boy inspires transplant campaign for 230 hospital dolls

Family photo Ralph Tatham, 3, sitting with his dollFamily photo
The Waiting to Live campaign was inspired by Ralph

The story of a three-year-old boy in need of a life-saving transplant has become the inspiration of a campaign hoping to help other children.

Ralph's parents Katie and Graham, from Epping in Essex, worked with the NHS to make 230 dolls that will be placed in hospital waiting rooms across the UK.

The dolls represent the approximate number of children on the organ transplant waiting list.

Katie is urging people to learn about the importance of paediatric donors.

Each doll - as part of the Waiting to Live campaign - will wear a badge inviting people passing to scan a QR code on their mobile phone, linking them to stories about the children.

Family photo Ralph and his Mum Katie TathamFamily photo
Katie, pictured with Ralph, said their situation as a family had become desperate

Ralph's mother said he was a "funny" and "charming" boy who loved playing with his friends at nursery, but said their world fell apart when the was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer in May.

He has been on the NHS waiting list for a multi-organ transplant for six months.

Katie, 35, said she was initially hopeful her son would get a donor quickly and said: "But then days turned into weeks - weeks turned into months.

"And now we're kind of in this desperate situation where he's becoming resistant to his current chemotherapy."

Katie and Graham are also trying to raise more than £1m to take him to the United States for life-saving treatment.

Family Photo Raplh Tatham age 3Family Photo
Ralph was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer in May

Angie Scales, lead nurse for paediatric organ donation at NHS Blood and Transplant 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 immense sadness and personal grief.

"Yet, families tell us that agreeing to organ donation can also be a source of great comfort and pride."

She added: "By encouraging more young people and their families to confirm their support for organ donation on the NHS Organ Donor Register, we hope to be able to save more lives of children, both today and in the future."

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