Mark James
Illustrations copyright of Lulu McWilliams
Freddie and the Magic Heart
A book about organ donation
Freddie finds out, with the help of his dad, how organ donation, can bring some good from the bad.
Join Freddie and his dad as they discover how organ donation can make something special happen when someone loses a loved one.
"When someone is dying, it can be just the start, when Mum doesn't need it, she can give away her heart."
"All that love that we've showen her, it has built up inside. Now that love could help someone, and give us some pride. Your mum's heart could live on, and give life to another, it could help someone's grandad or someone's big brother "
Illustrations copyright of Lulu McWilliams
Hello
My name is Mark, and I was a Staff Nurse on an intensive care unit (ICU) for around 5 years. I came into nursing late, after a career in the British and New Zealand armies. I was drawn to intensive care because it gives nurses the opportunity to give care to critically ill patients which can be extremely complex and demanding. At the heart of our role is communication, communication with other team members, with our patients and also their families.
Once I had gained some experience in ICU, I wanted to expand my knowledge in some areas and so I joined the unit organ donation team. Organ donation for me is a massive opportunity to get something positive to happen from a negative situation when someone loses their battle with a critical illness or injury. Whilst being involved in conversations with doctors, specialist organ donation nurses and families, I realised just how difficult those conversations can be. Often, people don’t think too much about organ donation until they are confronted with it in terrible circumstances, and I tried to imagine how hard it would be to communicate this to a child.
I am a father, and I felt that it would be beneficial to have a children’s picture book that was engaging and fun to read about organ donation. Freddie and the Magic Heart is my first children's book, and it tells the story of a little boy who, although he is going to lose his mum, finds out that there are thousands of people in need of organs and that his mum could help those people by giving her “recycled parts” to them.
Through crowdfunding and my local organ donation team, I have raised enough money to publish the book and distribute copies to all organ donation teams in the country so that they can be in ward organ donation resource boxes and waiting rooms. Now people everywhere can purchase the book for their own children and I hope that this will help to spread the word about the gift that is organ donation. I am now extremely proud to be a Specialist Nurse – Organ Donation and hope to continue being an ambassador for donation for people of all ages.
100% of the proceeds from book sales will go to the Donor Family Network, helping them raise awareness and provide high quality support to donor families.
