A Hearty Welcome!

Welcome to this blog, where I will lead you on a journey through heart failure, and towards a new life with a heart transplant.

Foreword

Before we begin, a little disclaimer – I will share my vulnerability in this blog as I express my thoughts and experiences as a heart failure patient who received a heart transplant. For all the lovely readers, please, if at any point it gets too overwhelming, take some time off the page and have a break, have a KitKat. We need to look after our mental health above all : )

This is a safe space for conversations about heart health, the transplant process, with insight and resources for how you can help save the lives of thousands of people by becoming an organ donor.

Without further ado, let’s have our heart-to-heart, and let me tell you the story of how I went from...

Where did it all begin?

When I was 16-years old, I was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy – a form of heart disease where the heart gets bigger, loses its pumping power, and the muscle weakens.

It was a cute disease, because by definition, I had a big heart. Aww.

I remember coming to school in the days after my diagnosis, and all my teachers gave me that look of sympathy. I thought to myself, ‘They must all know. They must have discussed me in their morning meeting – the student with heart disease.’

But apart from being started on some meds, I felt exactly the same. Heart disease was just a diagnosis, a label, that was slapped onto my NHS record. I felt absolutely normal.

One. Tiny. Rock.

It was only several years later, at the end of March 2023, when I had my first heart failure episode.

Like I was at the time of my diagnosis, I felt absolutely normal. I was all laa-dee-daa, making my way back home from University to revise for my final year exams, and in the next few weeks, heart failure seemed to be this tiny rock bringing me down and down and down.

I was ticking off all the symptoms of heart failure like it was some sort of holiday checklist. (Definitely would've preferred a nice luxurious holiday, but a hospital stay isn't too far off)

• Breathlessness

• Ankle and leg swelling

• Weight gain

• Loss of appetite

• Vomiting

• Extreme fatigue

When I couldn’t read my book in bed without gasping for air, couldn’t play the piano without stopping to catch my breath, and had a tightness in my chest like a balloon had been inflated inside, I understood that my heart was deteriorating, and my organs declared war, as they began ‘fighting for the same blood’.

One. Big. Treasure

Fast forward to June 2023, and less than 24hrs in the Intensive Care Unit of Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, crying silently in agony overnight and praising God for whatever little life I had left, I woke up to the news that I had an offer for a heart.

Subhan’Allah. Glory be to God.

Final remarks

Not all heroes wear capes.

• Some wear hospital gowns

• Some wear scrubs

• Some work tirelessly day and night to make sure we stay alive

• And some… are organ donors, who choose to give the gift that keeps on giving

By the Grace of God, and the kindness of my donor and their family, I was given the chance to live again. I hope that through this blog I can honour their memory by raising awareness of the beautiful concept that is organ donation.

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my heart transplant journey, and if you are on a similar journey, I hope this light-hearted blog can make it a little easier for you. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you all. Thank you for reading! X

In later posts, you’ll hear:

• My patient diary entries

• Poems about this journey

• “In A Nutshell” guide to heart failure, heart transplant, and organ donation

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P.S. I love photography, and every post will end in colour. So here goes. Bismilllah. Welcome to my blog, and I hope you take something beneficial from my waffling.