THE HEART of an 11-year-old boy, who died following an accident on a pedestrian crossing in Leiria, has saved the life of another child who was awaiting a transplant.
The death of Bruno Correia, the third recorded in the area so far this year, triggered demands for urgent action from residents who placed a sign near the scene of the tragedy bearing the words, “A child died here”.
Bruno was on his way home from school when a car hit him on one of the crossings in Avenida Dr. Francisco Sá Carneiro, hurling him 17 metres. After treatment at Leiria Hospital, he was transferred to Coimbra paediatric hospital’s intensive care unit, where he died the following day.
As the little boy’s heart was in perfect condition, his mother, Alcinda Carvalho, authorised the transplant. Speaking after flowers and candles had been laid at the spot where the accident occurred, she explained her decision: “Since there was no hope for my son, I have donated his heart to another child who needed it and to stop the tears of another mother,” she said.
