My story:

I have known, for half of my life, that I would more than likely have to look towards the road of a heart transplant at some stage due to a mutated disorder of the Lamin AC gene which causes a condition called Dilated Cardiomyopathy. The heart looses its elasticity, becomes weak, saggy and enlarged and cannot effectively carry out its normal function. May 2024, those symptoms came at me hard and fast. I knew exactly, from other family members, the road in which I was heading. Fluid building up as the heart was going further into chronic failure, not being able to walk to the shop from the car, walk upstairs without stopping more than once, feel the fluid gathering in my body and it dragging me down like the biggest gravity pull you can imagine, literally taking my breath away, fatigue that cannot be described. My heart was giving up, failing to support me and my body. I was in chronic heart failure. Tests were carried out, transplant pre assessment completed in The Freeman Hospital and I was placed on the routine transplant list in August 2024. Symptoms worsened quite quickly over the next few months, meds increased consistently battling the forever increasing fluid gathering and just before Christmas 2024 during another transplant pre assessment, I was told that I would need to be admitted to hospital in order for them to administer a specialised drug (milrinone) 24/7 via IV to help and support the heart function. Alongside this another IV (frusemide) as a diuretic would be administered as the orals just weren't doing the job. This would need to be carried out in Newcastle. I left home on 13th January, not knowing when or if I would return, leaving behind a husband and a son, and on the morning of the 14th January, I became an in patient of the Freemen Hospital. Discussions were had and due to the fall in donor numbers in the past 12 months, the estimated period of "wait" time was 6 - 12 months. Anything could happen during that time, and I could be removed from the list at any moment. It was scary but I did my best to remain calm, focused and positive. 2 weeks later I was placed on the urgent transplant list. On 25th February 2025 at 4.30am I was awoken by the staff nurse on duty and told that I had a potential donor. I went to surgery that evening at 7.15pm. Recovery went very well and I was discharged from hospital on 21st March, returning home on 27th March, 73 days after walking out my back door. This journey, has saved my life, has changed me as a person (hopefully for the better!), introduced me to some amazing and brave individuals and their families and I have no words for the staff members of the hospital where I received my treatment and care. Now, just a few months after surgery, I feel stronger, fitter and more energised than I have in years. My heart is literally full of gratitude, thankfulness and I feel extremely lucky and blessed. I wouldn't be here looking towards a brighter future if it wasn't for my amazing donor and their family, this hospital and those amazing people inside those walls. I want to give back, so I have decided to complete a total of 200km, through dedicated walks, during the month of July, in aid of the FHLTA (Freeman Heart Lung Transplant Association), who help and support transplant patients and families. Based solely on walks, no cheating by tallying up daily step counts!! I would greatly appreciate your help by donating via the link provided. I'll keep you all updated on the walking progress via my social platforms and please feel free to share my story.