Heart op mum: I had to stay alive for my boys
WHEN Nicky Sharpe was told at the height of the pandemic she needed a heart transplant, she had one thought on her mind.
She knew she had to stay alive for her sons Rory, 13, and Finlay, nine, as they had already lost their dad to a heart condition.
She managed to hang on for a new heart to be found and her transplant took place in January.
Nicky, 48, who is now recovering at home in Southend, Essex, with her sons, said: “It’s a miracle I’m still here. Not only was it touch and go several times, it was also at the time of the pandemic.
“But they had already lost their dad and I was determined they wouldn’t lose me too. I kept telling them I’d be coming home. It’s a promise I managed to keep.”
The family were devastated when dad Peter, who worked in the riot squad for the Met Police, died seven years ago, aged 37.
Nicky, a cookery teacher, said Peter had gone to bed one night saying he didn’t feel well.
She said: “He woke up struggling to breathe, telling me that something was wrong.
“My sister and her husband were staying with us – a nurse and a GP – and did CPR on him until the ambulance arrived. But he passed away. Peter was passionate about organ donation and carried a donor card. I had never imagined that one day I would be the one needing a transplant.”
Nicky suffered breathlessness while out running in July 2020.
Just months later she was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, where the heart becomes enlarged. She went into hospital but her condition deteriorated.
She had a pacemaker fitted on New Year’s Day in 2021.
Then last August, while in hospital for tests, she suffered a cardiac arrest. She had high pressure in her lungs and doctors didn’t think she’d be able to have a transplant. But Nicky said: “There was no way I was giving up. It was touch and go – my kidneys and liver were failing too – but I kept on going.”
Doctors fitted her with a mechanical heart until a new heart was found for her in January.the transplant was a success and she was allowed home.
She said: “The first hug with my boys was one of the most special moments of my life.”