Essex mum on her heart transplant: "What a gift to be here with my children"
Nicky had the operation in January
A secondary school teacher from Southend has told us how receiving a heart transplant in January has given her a new lease of life.
48 year old Nicky Sharpe was admitted to the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge in 2021 for heart failure treatment and spent over six months as an inpatient, waiting for a suitable donor organ.
She remembers learning the hospital had found a suitable heart for her: "I had mixed emotions because it was a relief that maybe this will work for me, but you immediately also think of the family who just experienced a loss.
"Definitely mixed emotions, but such a relief because I just wanted to get home to my boys - I'm on my own with them, and have been a widow for seven years and they're so young - when I went into hospital they were nine and 12 - I just wanted to get back home and get them into their twenties, at least."
She describes the transplant, which has taken well, as a 'gift' and is grateful for the extra time it's given her with her two sons: "For the last two years I've missed my boys starting their school years because I've been in hospital or really ill.
"This September, I was serving up dinner in the first week they were back at school and my eldest boy just lent over and kissed the top of my head. I think he was just happy I was there and it wasn't an Auntie and Uncle in the house - it was his Mum...
"What a gift I got to just be able to be here, serve up dinner and just hang out with my children."
Nicky says that since the transplant, she's appreciated the little things more, too: "People ask me if I wake up feeling grateful every morning but just like everyone else, I wake up and just get on with my day.
"What I have noticed though is the simple things. For example, I was in the kitchen and could just hear the boys laughing and joking in the sitting room one day, just being boys. I just became really aware that I wasn't supposed to be hearing that.
"I thought my time was up last September so it just felt so special to hear them laughing.
"People ask me if I'm planning big trips or celebrations, but for me it's the little things like that which are special... I think because I was so poorly, I might not have tuned into it as much before, because my head was just full, my body ached.
"Now I'm not foggy anymore and I'm aware of my surroundings and I can appreciate those things so much more. All I wanted to do was sit on the sofa with the boys and watch silly TV and now I can. It's been really good."
She's now encouraging people who want to be donors to register their decision on the Organ Donor Register and talk to their loved ones about their decision: "Discuss it with your family and let them know, because they will be asked what your wishes are.
"I'd also say think about all the people you could help if you became an organ donor - it'll likely be more than one person you'd help and I think it's such a gift you can leave behind.
"Think about the legacy, and also the ripple effect, because it's not just the person receiving the transplant you're helping, it's also the family and friends - so many people are impacted by one donation, it's immense.
"There aren't really words to describe it, it's just a real gift."