Transplant athlete who owes her life to a boy killed on his paper

A BOY killed while riding his bike has saved the lives of four other people, including an athlete who will defend her 100m gold medal at the British Transplant Games this week.

The parents of Daniel Lambton, 12, donated his organs after he was fatally injured when a car hit him as he did his paper round.

Today, as one of the organ recipients, Zara Bakri, 17, prepares for the Games, Daniel's father David said his son was living beyond the grave.

"Zara competing in these games shows me that although Daniel is dead, he lives on in others," Mr Lambton said. "We have been able to rescue lives from certain death and they are now achieving great things. It's fantastic and Daniel would be delighted."

Ten years ago Zara was a frail seven-year-old fighting for her life. Born with genetic liver disorder Crigler-Najjar syndrome, she had to sleep up to 16 hours a day under a phototherapy lamp. On 30 December 1995, two days after Daniel died, she underwent a pioneering operation in which surgeons replaced the right lobe of her liver with his.

Zara, who will be competing in sprinting, swimming, badminton and archery, now exchanges letters with Mr Lambton and hopes to meet him.

Tears come to her eyes when she looks at a picture of Daniel. "He was a really happy, good-looking boy and it's so sad he died at such a young age," she said.

"Now I have a comparatively normal life. I dance, I swim and the only thing I can't do is drink."

Her mother Alison, who lives in Margate, said Zara "has never looked back", adding: "She gets worried sometimes, but she is doing great and is now a young woman."

Mr Lambton, of Nottingham, said the progress of Zara and the three others who received Daniel's organs filled a void for his wife Meryl and their other three children.

"I wanted to take Daniel out of the hospital but that was not going to happen," he said. "Then a doctor asked me about organ donation and I told him to clear off and not be so gruesome. Then I thought, 'Hang on, this is the way Daniel is going to get out of the hospital alive.' "Because of the way he had lived - he was caring, considerate and always smiling - everything fell into place. Rather than one life being lost, we could save four lives."

. To join the confidential NHS Organ Donor Register, call 0845 6060400. For information, go to www.uktransplant.org.uk

Special spirit of the Games

THE 28th British Transplant Games are being held at Loughborough University in Leicestershire from tomorrow until Sunday and will feature up to 600 athletes in 15 events.

Organised by the Transplant Sports Association of Great Britain, the Games aim to encourage transplant patients to live life to the full and help them to regain their fitness, while increasing public awareness of the value of organ donation.

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