It was a Saturday evening May 3rd 2025, I was gasping for breath.
I was on WhatsApp with my dear friend Mary. I asked her to stay online while I rang 111. In 10 minutes, a first responder team was at my door. They gave me oxygen. In another 10 minutes, an ambulance arrived. Within 40 minutes, I was in the Cardiac Emergency unit at Southampton University Hospital. I don’t remember much of the following week as I was kept alive, while tests were carried out, before I was given a heart bypass and aortic valve replacement on the 9th.
6 months later, I am almost completely recovered, taking an hour of Tai Chi classes twice a week and going to the swimming pool. This is all thanks to the NHS and the amazing skill of the Cardiac team who cared for me. The heart is also a metaphor, of course, conjuring love and compassion out of suffering. I also have to thank the pig whose aortic valve sustains me now.
