'It would have been a lovely gift to give another child': Bereaved parents urge organ donation

Nearly 60,000 people have opted out of a register for organ donation since it was introduced six months ago. Majella Spang tells Alison O’Reilly about losing her 10-month-old daughter, who was in need of a new heart

Majella Spang beside a spread of photos of Alice. 'She had the doctors baffled so many times because she fought so hard to live.' Picture: Larry Cummins

As Alice Aurora Spang took her last breath, her heartbroken mother begged the baby to look at her before she passed away.

But in those last few precious moments, the 10-month-old tot, who had battled heart failure since birth, stared past her mother before slipping away as she lay between her parents on a hospital bed.