Araçatuba implements organ donation awareness law following child's transplant

The organ donation of three-year-old Laís Machado Celoni has inspired new legislation in Araçatuba, Brazil. Following Laís's death due to a cerebral hemorrhage at Santa Casa de Araçatuba, her parents, Aline Celoni and João Paulo de Oliveira Celoni, authorized the donation of her heart and kidneys.

The donation provided a new lease on life for Vitória Helena Bernardo da Silva, a three-year-old girl who had been on a transplant waiting list for ten months due to congenital heart disease. In an emotional meeting in São Paulo, Laís's mother used a stethoscope to listen to her daughter's heartbeat within the recipient.

This story has prompted the creation of a municipal law in Araçatuba to promote organ and tissue donation awareness. Sanctioned during the ‘Setembro Verde’ (Green September) campaign, the law establishes September 27 as an official day of mobilization in the city, coinciding with the date Laís would have celebrated her birthday.