Elliot Livingstone survived using ‘Berlin Heart’ longer than any other child patient in the UK before receiving transplant

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A toddler who survived on a mechanical heart for more than a year has received a life-saving heart transplant.

Elliot Livingstone used the “Berlin Heart” device longer than any other child patient in the UK while he was waiting for a new heart.

The two-year-old is recovering in intensive care at Great Ormond Street hospital after the transplant.

His parents, Candace and Adrian, from Hampshire, have published a thank you note to the anonymous donor. “Thank you, little angel. In their darkest hour, as you prepared to take your last breath, your family selflessly thought of others,” they wrote, adding: “Thank you will never be enough. Your family has given our family hope. A chance of a future. A chance of life itself.”

The family have shared their experience on Facebook to encourage more people to become organ donors. “We are always hopeful that promoting organ donation through our own experience will help others realise how life-changing and life-enhancing this act can be,” they said.