Dear all,

My name is Tracey and I'm 58yrs old. I am a Heart Transplant Warrior and am just coming up to my second anniversary thanks to the wonderful generosity of my donor and my donor's family. They had the forethought to sign up to become an organ donor and go on onto register and as a result gave me the gift of life.

Following the death of my daughter in 2002 due to Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) I was diagnosed myself, and as you can appreciate I was a little paranoid and negative about the future.

My heart failure was managed for many years, I needed a pacemaker/defibrillator  for many years however in 2016 it was decided by the Transplant Team at Royal Papworth Hospital that I was ill enough to warrant being placed on the heart transplant waiting list. I was extremely lucky and in 2017 a suitable organ was found, this was wonderful news for me and my family but the donor family must have been going through a horrendous time due to the death of their loved one. 

I came through the transplant due to the fantastic care that I received at Royal Papworth Hospital, its been a rocky road at times over the past two years but I see myself as being very lucky indeed to still be alive to see my family grow.

A relatively new type of heart transplant retrieval (DCD Heart) has been developed over the past few years and Royal Papworth have been pioneering and world leaders in this new method. As a result more than 50 people have received the gift of life that would otherwise not have been transplanted. Royal Papworth have transplanted more patients using this method than the rest of the world combined. One of my very good friends was transplanted using a DCD heart.

I am having a rainbow of colours put through my hair to raise funds for the DCD Programme. For me to do something like this is quite an out there thing to do so I do hope you will support me in this endeavour. Further challenges will follow later in the year.....watch this space!!!!

Each DCD transplant costs in the region of £30k and currently Royal Papworth Hospital picks up this cost as it is not supported by NHS England, and whilst I don't expect to raise that amount, anything raised will help this new programme continue, and ultimately save more lives.

I will of course share the rainbow pictures on the 15th March