A pioneering North East heart surgeon who saved hundreds of children's lives has received the 2026 Pride of Britain Lifetime Achievement Award.
Asif Hasan retired this year, aged 70, after 30 years as head of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
Mr Hasan estimates he carried out about 400 transplants and co-led Newcastle’s “bridge to transplant” programme.
The scheme uses the Berlin Heart, a mechanical blood pump that keeps infants and children alive while they wait for a suitable organ donor.
Mr Hasan also pioneered a post-surgical sternum closure technique known as the bootlace closure.
The bootlace closure allows children to receive donor hearts that would otherwise be too large for them, giving them a chance of survival.
The Newcastle surgeons 30 year career has seen him save hundreds of children's lives. (Image: NHS)
Mr Hasan became known for operating on some of the country’s sickest children, including patients other cardiac centres had rejected as too high-risk.
For many families, the Freeman team was their last chance of survival.
Mr Hasan said: "There have been big highs and big lows.
"My heart swells when I hear about a survivor doing so well, but I do remember all the traumatic cases where someone died.
"I’ve seen human misery up close, but also human resilience and courage."
The Freeman Hospital’s children’s heart unit is one of only two UK centres performing heart and lung transplants on children, and the only one offering cardiac care from before birth through adulthood.
Mr Hasan said: "I'm quite an ordinary person, but I had so many extraordinary colleagues with me who gave their lives to the patients.
"Not just consultants, but nurses, incredible, incredible people."
He added: "I have also worked in one of the most extraordinary institutions in the world, which is the NHS."
Former Pride of Britain Children of Courage Max Johnson and Cecilia Adamou are among the Newcastle surgeon's former patients.
Mr Hasan was surprised on stage at the Pride of Britain Awards by 19 people, aged between 10 and 43, whose lives he had saved as children.
Dr Hasan told the Mirror he was “gobsmacked” to see his former patients greet him, hugging each one as he wiped away tears.
Former patient Natalie Grant told Mr Hasan: "I had surgery 25 years ago. I was scared but I knew that I was in safe hands.
"I have two daughters now, and my youngest one is the same age as I was then. I can't help thinking what that must be like as a parent."
She added: "And you really did inspire me, as I now work in the Children's Heart Unit. No one deserves this more than you."
More wins for the North East
The award adds to the North East’s growing list of Pride of Britain winners.
In 2018, North Tyneside businessman and philanthropist Graham Wylie won the Lifetime Achievement Award for his foundation’s charity funding.
That year, Gateshead’s Tony Davis won the Outstanding Bravery Award after giving first aid to PC Palmer, who was fatally stabbed in the 2017 Westminster attack in London.
Michael McWilliams, co-founder of Darlington charity the Harvey McWilliams Foundation, was among those who attended the ceremony.
After meeting Jack Grealish, the foundation posted on social media: "Thank you to our community in Darlington and beyond you took a family’s worst moment and turned it into something that keeps other families going.
"Many thanks to Jack Grealish for taking the time to speak with us."
More information about Mr Hasan's award, and a full list of winners, can be found on the Pride of Britain Awards website.