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ESRC: Celebrating our transplant anniversary

ESRC: Celebrating our transplant anniversary

Almost 30 years ago in 1984 Ben Hardwick touched the whole nation’s hearts when his mother appealed on Esther Rantzen’s BBC programme That’s Life for a new liver to save his life.

A donor was found and he became the first child in Britain to receive a liver transplant. Although Ben sadly died after his second transplant 15 months after his first, many more child recipients survived.

These children, the first ever recipients of liver transplants, are now in their 20s and 30s.

Their stories have been collected as part of a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and will be heard for the first time at an event as part of the Festival of Social Science.

Visit the ESRC website or contact Sarah Nichols (Senior Press Manager) for more information. 

Economic and Social Research Council
North Star Avenue
Swindon
SN2 1UJ

telephone: +44 (0) 1793 413122
email: sarah.nichols@esrc.ac.uk