Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

We are two normal guys with just a few things in common. One is our Love of football! We both love Swansea City and we both manage local football teams in Swansea Senior League due to the fact we are not alowed to play ourselves due to the other, more unusual thing we have in common, Our heart problems, which you can read up on in the followng bio's! we are teaming up to organise a chain of charity events to raise as much money as possible to give a little back after all the help we have recieved over the years.

 

Mitchell:

"  I was first diagnosed with aortic valve stinosis when I was a few days old back in Augest '94 which is where the life of check ups, Medications and opperations started. when I was two years old I had my first operation which was to stretch my valve open to increase the bloodflow to my heart. Then when I was five I had my first major open heart surgery to replace the faulty valve but during that opp a complication meant that I slipped into heart failure, therefore my heart only beat once meaning I needed to be fitted with a pacemaker which when fitted the lead latched on to my tricuspid valve severly damaging it. That lead to my second open heart surgery when I was just 7. The operation all went well and the valve went on to last 7 years. In 2009 I was told that valve needed to be changed again. To say I was scared was an understatment but apart from a collapsed lung the op went according to plan. That takes us to where im at now.19 years old and about 15 weeks after my fourth valve transplant which was done by a new technique of surgery that had only been done a handful times before. The first attempt the surgeon made an incision across my chest towards my back but due to my heart being at an angle they could not reach the valve and so two days later I was taken back into thearte where my new valve was inserted by keyhole surgery through my groin which like before apart from a collopsed lung the op was a success. I am now due to have 2 more opps in the near future to correct the abnormal rhythm of my heart and to replace a damaged pacemaker lead that was damaged in surgery. But im looking foward to overcoming the two procederes and getting as close to normality as possible. Im feeling better than ever and even with the strains and limits on my life im living it too the full and taking every day as it comes! im also very pleased to be working with David in organising some fundraisers as its nice to have somebody to share your expierences with! Id like to thank anybody that takes the time to read our stories and donates!  "

 

David:

"  I was born in 1986 without a pulmonary valve. The pulmonary valve is the heart valve that allows blood to travel from the heart to the lungs. This obviously was a life threatning situaton that was thankfully caught by the midwife after a day or two of being born and i was then rushed to Bristol Heart hospital for sick children to have emergency surgery to save my life. The surgeons place a shunt in me which would keep me alive until i was big enough to have furthur surgery. At the age of three i went back into hospital to have open heart surgery to put a new tissue valve in and also repair a hole in my heart. The surgery was a succsess and the surgeons expected my new valve to last 5-10 years. Fast forward 24 years and to 2013 and my valve really had run its course. I had been very lucky to have had it last me for so long but now i needed a new one as my quality of life was on the decline and my heart was working 3 times harder than it should to try and push blood through the narrow damaged valve. So on the 30th of october 2013 i went into Bristol Heart Institute for my second open heart surgery. The operation was a success and other than a few complications after the operation like a collapsed lung and lung and chest infection everything else went fine and as expected. As i write this i am 2 and half weeks into my recovery and am glad to say that everything is going well. Me and Mitch feel we owe everything to the doctors , nurses and the BHF and just want to try and give something back. If you could help us it would mean.everything to us. thank you in advance!  "