It's coming up to Christmas and we don't know if Zachary will be here..

ZACHARY Bradford is a cheerful boy, full of fun and always smiling, despite the awful health problems he has suffered since birth.

- MARTIN BAGOT

The three-year-old has brought his parents, Jade and Rhys, and his younger brother Reuben, two, so much joy but without a life-saving liver and bowel transplant, they are terrified they will lose Zachary before the year is out.

Jade, 24, said: "A few weeks ago they said Zachary may not survive much longer, but he is here. He has a lot of health issues and spends more time in hospital than out of it. We really need the transplant to come urgently now.

"As parents, you never expect to be in this position and we are helpless. It's coming up to Christmas and we don't know if Zachary will be here."

Zachary is one of 280 children on the transplant list, hoping for the gift of life this Christmas.

The Mirror successfully campaigned to change the law on organ donation in England to an opt-out system.

But the families of the bereaved still have the final say.

Jade said: "We want to do anything we can to raise awareness of Zachary's story and all the children waiting. We hope someone else can save him because we're not able to."

Jade and Rhys found out at the 10-week scan that their baby had an abdominal defect, gastroschisis, which meant there was a hole in his stomach wall.

At 28 weeks, a scan revealed Zachary's bowel had perforated and he needed to be delivered urgently.

He then needed artificial feeding, which affected his liver, and his bowel was small following the surgery, which also made feeding a problem.