A SCHOOLGIRL whose funeral takes place today was inspired to donate her organs after following the plight of heart transplant girl Sally Slater.

Billy Brown, 49, said he had been told his 12-year-old daughter, Natalie, who died last week from meningitis B, had helped give life to three other people.

She had insisted her organs be donated after her death after she read the story of the seven-year-old from Kirkby Malham, North Yorkshire, whose battle for life gripped the nation.

Mr Brown, from Gateshead, said his daughter's wish had helped bring comfort to his family at a time of grief.

He said: "She was so concerned about Sally Slater at the time that little girl was waiting for a new heart.

"She used to ask me: 'Daddy, why hasn't she got a new heart yet?'

"I just told her that there weren't enough hearts to go round because not enough people donated them.

"From that moment, she said she wanted to donate anything that could help others."

Mr Brown added: "When Natalie died, the doctor asked whether we wanted to consider donating our daughter's organs and we thought of what Natalie had said about donating.

"We have been told that at least three people have received her organs, including her heart, lungs and kidney, and those people are doing well because of them. That gives us comfort to think that, out of our grief, other people have been allowed to live.

"It is what she would have wanted, and she would have been over the moon to know that this has happened."

Natalie, the youngest of four sisters, died on January 3 after feeling unwell the previous day.

She was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, and later transferred to Newcastle General Hospital where doctors were unable to save her.

Mr Brown said he, his wife Pauline, 47, and daughters Nicola, 26, Kellie, 21, and Danielle, 17, would urge everyone to carry donor cards.

He said: "Everyone should donate their organs. You never know what is going to happen in life and what is round the corner. Everyone in our family now carries a donor card."

Seven-year-old Sally, from North Yorkshire, received a new heart at the 11th hour after her parents made a nationwide appeal