Karen Owens (left) and sister Allison Kerr

Two sisters who had heart transplants at NHS Golden Jubilee are looking forward to celebrating their first holiday season in years, after making a full recovery from their operations.

Allison Kerr and Karen Owens were diagnosed with a genetic heart condition which sadly led to the death of their father in 2005. As their symptoms progressed the sisters discovered that their only option was to undergo heart transplantation.

They first made headlines in 2021 with the amazing story of how they were a lifeline for one another while shielding from COVID-19*.

Allison received her transplant at the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic while Karen remained on the waiting list. This meant that the pair were forced to shield, having very limited contact with friends, family or the outside world.

Now, after Karen got her new heart last year, the pair are looking forward to finally being able to have a “normal” festive season for the first time in years.

Karen said: “After I got my transplant I was alright for the first month, but then I got two lung infections. It turned out these had nothing to do with my heart, but I’d actually got them from soil I was using at my allotment: this is apparently very common, but is a much higher risk in immunosuppressed patients.

“I had to go into hospital to have those treated, and then they came back so had to get them taken care of again. I’m now not allowed on my allotment or to do any gardening at the moment.

“And then when they had dealt with that, they discovered a pre-cancerous growth on my foot, so I had to have surgery to get that taken care of.

“It really did affect me mentally more than anything. It just felt like one thing after another and it was scary. Over the last year, I spent 205 days in hospital with them trying to get me back on my feet, but everyone that cared for me was absolutely fantastic and they dealt with it brilliantly.”

Based in Clydebank, NHS Golden Jubilee is home to the Scottish National Advanced Heart Failure Service (SNAHFS) which is the adult heart transplantation centre for Scotland.

Since April this year, the team have performed 28 heart transplants, a trend which looks to continue and benefit more patients from all across Scotland.

Before they became ill, the sisters had been known for taking on charity fundraising challenges. Now that they are able, the duo teamed up with another transplant patient from the Jubilee, Marie Coyle Robertson, to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation, thank the team who cared for them and also celebrate the memory of all those who have donated an organ and given someone else the gift of life.

Allison said: “We teamed up with Marie to raise money and awareness for the heart transplant service by walking 100,000 steps throughout October.

“If you’re fit and healthy, that’s usually very doable: but when you’ve had a recent heart transplant it’s much more of a challenge, but we did it and raised £2,000 in the process.

“We’re hoping to put it towards getting a bench dedicated at NHS Golden Jubilee in memory of everyone who has donated a heart to someone that needs it.”

Consultant Cardiologist and transplant service clinical lead, Dr Jonathan Dalzell, said: “The transplant unit at the Golden Jubilee has seen a marked increase in the number of heart transplants over the past 3 years with the result that we now are helping significantly more patients across Scotland.

“The national change to an ‘opt-out’ organ donation system will likely have contributed to this increase in transplant activity. Regardless of how hard our multidisciplinary team work to care for our patients, without the overwhelming generosity of organ donors and their loved ones transplant would simply not exist as a treatment option: they are the true heroes of transplantation.

“Looking after Allison and Karen throughout their journey has been a privilege for our team and now seeing them thrive and take on a 100,000 step challenge makes our jobs worthwhile. We are hugely grateful to them for what they have done for the service, and hope they have a wonderful festive season.”

As they head in to the holiday season, Karen says this is the first time since her transplant that she feels normal, in fact says she is feeling “great” and knows it is only possible thanks to her donor.

Karen added: “I was having a bath the other day, and it suddenly just washed over me that I felt good. I felt normal. I don’t know my donor’s name, but I call her Angela because to me she is an angel.

“I got quite emotional in my house about it, that part is quite hard to deal with. I said out loud ‘thank you Angela!’

“For so long I felt dull and lifeless, now I feel like I have music in my head again. I haven’t been able to celebrate in so long: the last two years I was in hospital over the holidays, as well as on my birthday and the anniversary of my transplant.

“To feel like this and finally be able to have a normal Christmas and New Year is fantastic and I can’t wait.”

*Previous story on Karen and Allison: https://www.nhsgoldenjubilee.co.uk/news/press-releases/press-releases-2021/sisters-bond-straight-heart

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