GCSE joy for Seaham heart transplant teenager Kayleigh Llewellyn

Heart transplant teenager Kayleigh Llewellyn has passed all of her GCSE exams - just four years after she lay critically ill in hospital.

'When she called me, I was choked up. I can't wait to give her a hug'

The 16-year-old Seaham High School student is celebrating after successes which included A*s in Art and Health/Social Care.

She also got great results in Science, English Language, English Literature, Photography and Maths.

Proud dad Shaun Sidney said: "When she called me, I was choked up.

"I could not be with Kayleigh this morning. I know she and her mam would have been in tears and had a good cry."

A year of incredible highlights

It has been an astonishing year of achievements for Kayleigh.

She wants to be a paramedic and has secured a place at college to study health and social care, with a view to eventually saving the lives of others.

She celebrated her 16th birthday with friends and family on a party bus and with a silent disco in Newcastle.

She had her prom and was taken to the venue by one of the transplant team in a Ford Mustang.

And she took on a run when she competed at the British Transplant Games recently. She had the medal she won especially engraved and encased in a presentation box and gave it to the mother of Sinead Bree - the 19-year-old whose heart Kayleigh now has.

Kayleigh's dramatic journey began in 2019. She had become unwell suddenly, after waking up for school complaining that she was struggling to breathe.

10 operations, 100 stitches and 102 days in hospital

Parents Shaun Sidney and Sonia Llewellyn initially thought it was asthma, but when she woke up the following day with a sore chest they took her to Sunderland Royal Hospital.

There, medics found that Kayleigh’s heart rate was too high and she was sent to the Freeman.

Kayleigh had her transplant in November 2019 but only came home in January 2020 after 102 days in hospital.

Find out more about organ donations

She had 10 operations – some of them lasting 13 hours - had 100 stitches and was given a new heart.

Her amazing spirit led to Kayleigh winning a Child of Courage trophy at the Best of Wearside Awards in 2021.

She is now celebrating another milestone and Shaun said: "I can not wait to give her a hug."

For more on organ donation, visit https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/