Little Erin has received a new liver

Eight-month-old Erin Nicks from Whitecross had been critically ill at the Birmingham Children's hospital.

Her condition was so serious that, at one point, she stopped breathing.

However, several days ago a donor was finally found and she underwent a long operation to receive her new organ.

Her father Simon said it was still early days but his little girl was doing quite well.

"Last week she was very bad and her blood results got a lot worse," he said.

Cautious optimism

"They were still saying to us days rather than weeks.

"She fought on for two weeks after she'd gone into intensive care. Obviously she wasn't going to keep going and going.

"Her blood results didn't tell any lies. She was getting worse. It was really in the nick of time."

Mr Nicks said the family was cautiously optimistic that the operation would be a success.

He believes it was good luck that a match was found in terms of the size and weight of the new liver.

"A lot of it is to do with proportion of weight to the size of the organ," he said.

"We were very fortunate. Obviously someone did have the courage to donate their loved ones organ in their time of grief, which we will always be eternally grateful for.

"We are in the fortunate position, but very cautious position, of Erin getting the liver. There's a lot more people out there still waiting for organs."

Erin was healthy when she was born but, after about six weeks, blood tests picked up a problem with her liver.

Throughout the ordeal of treatment, her parents remained hopeful of finding a donor.

Earlier this month, Mr Nicks appealed for people to sign the organ donor register.

More than 6,000 people in the UK are waiting for an organ transplant, according to the NHS website, UK Transplant.

Most are waiting for a kidney, others for a heart, lung or liver transplant.

However, less than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year.

Anyone who wants to sign up to the NHS Organ Donor Register can call 0845 60 60 400.