THE parents of a three-week-old baby who died at the weekend have said they hope more people will join the organ donation register in his memory.

Carter Cookson passed away at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle following a campaign appealing for a new heart.

He was born on Boxing Day, but suffered three cardiac arrests just hours after his birth.

Carter needed a heart transplant and his parents Sarah and Chris Cookson, from South Shields, appealed to the nation to raise awareness of his plight, but to no avail.

The machine Carter was relying on to pump blood around his body needed changing again because of clots, but his body was too weak.

He died at 5.44pm on Saturday,

Speaking to ITV News, Mrs Cookson, who lost her first son Charlie in 2013 when he was just two-and-a-half, said: “When people are in this position or when they’re just sitting and it pops up on their feed and it’s like ‘organ donation, have a think about it’.

“I just hope that they picture his little face and think, that little boy could still be here if there was more people on that donation register.”