“It made me think about how man families there are out there waiting and hoping for an organ to give their child their life back”

Pam Bamford’s teenage daughter Lauren “Lolly” Wilkinson died from a cardiac arrest following an asthma attack in January 2017.

The 17-year-old Grace Academy student suffered from brittle asthma and a host of allergies and was regularly admitted to Walsall Manor Hospital.

Following her death Pam, who lives in Darlaston, gave consent for her organs to be used to help others, despite always being against this.

Pam explained: “Organ donation wasn’t something I had really supported before but when I saw Lolly after her cardiac arrest and I knew that I had lost her it made me realise something. I knew then that as a mum I would have taken any hope offered to me if it meant my daughter could live. I changed my mind and looked at it differently.

“It made me think about how many families there are out there waiting and hoping for an organ to give their child their life back. Lolly’s organs helped four people – three have received her kidneys and liver, and another has undergone a bowel transplant. And her tissue will also be used.

“This does give us some comfort as a family because she was so kind and loving and always considered other people.

“I would ask people to consider organ donation during this week’s campaign to get us talking about it. I know it comes after the loss of someone you love but I also know that if it was someone in my family who needed an organ I would want them to have that chance of life.”