Kidney op mum: Don’t ignore mask rules

A MOTHER of two in recovery from her second kidney transplant has pleaded for the Government’s new rules on face masks to be obeyed to enable her to go out for the first time since early March.

Janine Heap had been begging for face masks in public to become mandatory and now welcomes the Government’s sudden U-turn to make them compulsory in shops.

But she fears many will not comply and has already experienced a backlash on social media for her views on the necessity of their use. Shop worker Mrs Heap, 47, of Leeds, received her second kidney transplant in November and was planning her return to work with excitement when Covid-19 struck.

Instead, along with husband Ryan, 43, and their two children Lauren, 18, and Tom, 12, they have completely self-isolated.

She said: “I started to feel unsafe in shops a couple of weeks before lockdown and we began shielding as a family a week before.

“The only reason any of us went out was to walk our dog. During the peak, I did not go out at all.”

Prior to surgery, Mrs Heap spent two years having dialysis for nine hours every night and is determined to protect her new organ – as much to honour the donor and family as for her own health.

She said: “Immunosuppressants put me at very high risk of catching everyday infections. Covid-19 is something I must avoid at all costs. There are millions of vulnerable and extremely vulnerable people like me that are very high risk. Most are still too terrified to leave their homes and are avoiding shops because people are acting like the virus has disappeared and it is safe to go back to normal.

“Not wearing a mask in public says, in effect, ‘I don’t care about your health’.A second wave would not only be devastating for the economy but for many lives.”