Kaylee Davidson-Olley

Davidson-Olley's heart transplantation was performed on 14 October 1987^[2] by surgeon Christopher McGregor at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle,^[4] when Davidson-Olley was either four^[3][5] or five months old.^[6] McGregor had previously transplanted a heart into an adult woman in May 1985, the recipient surviving for 25 years.^[1]

Ten days after the transplant operation, the media were allowed admission to the intensive care unit where Davidson-Olley was a patient.^[7] Subsequently, the Freeman Hospital became one of only two centres in Britain performing transplants on children, and the main hospital in Britain carrying out transplants for adults born with congenital heart disease.^[1]

Davidson-Olley has campaigned on behalf of the organ donor register, saying in her 25th year of survival that she was only alive "because of the generosity of a family who made that important decision about organ donation, a decision that saved my life".^[2]

In 2013, at the World Transplant Games in Durban, South Africa, Davidson-Olley ran the 4 × 100 metres relay and won the gold medal.^[2][8]

In 2017, Davidson-Olley observed the 30th anniversary of the heart transplant procedure and her 30th year as the longest surviving heart transplant baby in Europe.^[1] To celebrate, she and the staff from the Freeman Hospital, members of families of people who have had transplants, the president of the World Transplant Games Federation and her surgeon, took the "Walk for Life", starting at Baltic Square, stopping at the Copthorne Hotel and then making their way across Newcastle's Millennium Bridge.^[1][4] McGregor stated that he had "followed Kaylee's progress and achievements over the last 30 years" and was "delighted to walk with Kaylee and share her special day and the success of the paediatric heart and lung transplant programme".^[1][9]

In May 2019, Davidson-Olley was named as one of four local heroes that had their name cast in a bronze plaque, to be placed permanently by the River Tyne.^[10] The following year, she appealed for the public to adhere to social distancing rules during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK.^[11]