Jackie Conway, who received a life-saving heart transplant in November 2017, has raised a phenomenal £20,000 for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) Charity after hosting a range of fundraising events over a 15 month period.

Jackie, pictured second from right above, from Great Barr, was admitted to QEHB on 3 August 2017 in urgent need of a heart transplant. Jackie had developed dilated cardiomyopathy as a result of having the flu, and lived with the condition for many years.

Jackie said: “There were three other people who were in hospital at the same time as me who needed a heart transplant. Two of them went home with LVADs [an electric pump that keeps the heart beating], and one had a transplant but sadly passed away. His name was Nigel and we were brilliant friends.”

Thankfully, a heart was found for Jackie, and she had her transplant. She said: “I was very lucky; I’ve got a very young heart from a 21-year-old donor. It makes you realise that life isn’t your own and it can be taken very quickly. As a mum of three it upset me an awful lot if I’m honest, but I’m going to try and do something with the second life that I’ve been given.”

Jackie has three children, Michelle, Joanne and Ryan. Michelle, pictured above second from left, said: “What was important to mum was writing a letter to the donor’s family because for her it was very much not just a heart, but sadly the knowledge that someone’s life had to end in order to give you a new start in life. Knowing the age of the donor hit home and made her think that it could have been one of us.”

Whilst in hospital awaiting her transplant, Jackie read about the Charity’s appeal to bring Heart in a Box to the hospital. Heart in a Box is a revolutionary piece of machinery that keeps a donated heart beating outside of the body, extending the window of time that doctors have to carry out transplants. This could increase the number of transplants that are carried out at QEHB by up to 50%.

Jackie said: “I read about Heart in a Box in the magazine and wanted to raise money for it straight away. I also wanted to raise money for the Home from Home as well.

“When you’re in hospital you start thinking about all sorts, I realised that the operation I was going to have would costs thousands of pounds and I wanted to give something back.”

Michelle said: “Mum was in hospital waiting for her transplant when she set up the JustGiving page. After she had her operation, we put a photo of her up, alongside her story, and that moved a lot of people and really kick-started the fundraising. She also put up a photo on Facebook saying ‘thank you so much for the wonderful gift of life.’”

Jackie, pictured in her hospital bed shortly after the transplant.

Jackie’s husband, Colum - who is pictured above on the right, said: “We have always been a family that have fundraised, we’ve usually been doing something at the local church or for community groups. However, when she set the goal of raising £20,000 we didn’t think she’d be able to do it, but she proved us wrong!”

Michelle said: “We had the idea to raise the money through similar events to ones we’d done in the past but on a bigger scale. Mum speaking in public about her story was really tough for her, but certainly helped to raise the money.”

As soon as Jackie was out of hospital the fundraising events began, and her family and friends were helped out by the Knights of St Columba, a Catholic layman’s organisation of which Colum is a member.

Each year, the Knights hold a sponsored walk, and in 2018 the group decided to raise money for Jackie’s cause, which she called Jackie’s Big Heart Appeal. Sadly Jackie missed the walk as she was back in hospital with pneumonia, but her place was taken by a giant teddy bear which was later raffled off.

The big teddy proved a huge hit at the fundraising event.

The family raised an incredible £12,000 and managed to reach their target of £20,000 thanks to the generosity of Barclays Bank. Michelle works for Barclays, and the bank gave £8,000 in match-funding. Michelle said: “Huge thanks goes to the team at Barclays for the donation, and thanks also go to my colleagues who got involved in charity events to help us raise money.”

Speaking of the difference that the money will make, Jackie said: “I hope that Heart in a Box will help to increase the transplants that happen at QEHB, as no-one knows quite what it’s like to be in that situation.

“It’s a very lonely road, it doesn’t matter who your visitors are and how the people around you are, it’s a very scary road. I was in hospital for 17 weeks, they weren’t happiest 17 weeks but I did my best to keep my spirits up and get to know the people on the ward.

“The Home from Home programme is brilliant; to allow patients’ families to stay for free by the hospital would be fantastic. It would be so tough if you were out of the area and your family couldn’t be with you. I hope it will make other people’s lives easier.”

As well as raising money for the Charity, the family wanted to raise awareness of organ donation. Colum said: “We all carried donor cards in the past and we wanted to raise awareness of organ transplant and being on the donor register.

“We held an event during Organ Donation Week and handed out lots of leaflets about organ donation. If more organs are donated, more lives can be saved and I hope that, alongside our fundraising, we helped encourage a few more people to sign up to the register.”

Jackie said: “It was so tough seeing young people on the ward and knowing that young people need transplants is hard.”

Beckie Knight, Administration Officer at QEHB Charity, said: “The Charity’s thanks go to Jackie, Colum, Michelle and their family and friends for their incredible fundraising efforts. The money that they have raised will help to make a huge difference to heart patients just like Jackie.

“Jackie is an inspiration, and I look forward to hearing more about her fundraising in the future."

To find out more about how QEHB Charity supports heart patients, please visit hospitalcharity.org/heart

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