Schoolgirl who underwent heart transplant thanks donor who saved her life one year on

Kayleigh Llewellyn was just 12 when she underwent a heart transplant on November 24, 2019.

The youngster, from Earl Street, in Seaham, was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease, after suddenly becoming unwell and struggling to breathe.

Kayleigh was taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital with chest pains before being transferred to the Freeman Hospital’s Children’s Heart Unit in Newcastle when doctors discovered that her heart rate was too high.

Diagnosed with heart disease, Kayleigh’s family were told that she needed to undergo a heart transplant.

After four weeks in intensive care, Kayleigh was placed on the urgent transplant list for a new heart last November.

Parents Shaun Sidney and Sonia Llewellyn prayed for a miracle and their prayers were answered when Kayleigh was given a new heart a month before Christmas.

The transplant was a success and after a period in hospital, Kayleigh was finally able to return home with her family, where she has been going from strength to strength on her road to recovery.

In June 2020, Kayleigh celebrated her 13th birthday, six months after undergoing a heart transplant, and now she is marking a second major milestone – a year on since receiving her new heart.

Dad Shaun said: “We can’t believe it has been a year since the transplant.

“We are so proud of her. She is an inspiration.

"The day of Kayleigh’s transplant will be like her second birthday.

"The transplant team at the Freeman Hospital are amazing – we can’t thank them enough.

"Without them Kayleigh wouldn’t be here today. You can’t put a price on that.”

To mark the milestone Kayleigh released balloons containing messages of thanks to her heart donor for giving her the gift of life.

Over the last year, Kayleigh has been in contact with the family of her donor and hopes to meet them one day in the future.

Kayleigh said: “Thank you to my donor family for the selfless decision on that day to save my life.

“My determination to raise awareness of organ donation will always be in their memory

“Thank you is never enough for everything everybody has done for me.

“Doing things to give back feels amazing and helping others is something I would like to continue.”

Kayleigh also expressed her thanks and gratitude to the medical team at the Freeman Hospital and Scott House, who provided her family a ‘home from home’ during her treatment.

Dad Shaun said: “It has been a massive step for Kayleigh to be talking to the donor family. We have been communicating with them through the clinic by way of letter.

"The donor family has asked for a photo of Kayleigh and she would like to meet up with them one day.”

A trip to New York that had been planned to mark the milestone has been postponed until December 2021 as a result of the pandemic.

Instead, Kayleigh will spend the day at home with her family, who have supported her every step of her journey back to health.

The last year has presented further challenges and the family all had to shield during the first wave of the pandemic to protect Kayleigh because her immune system was vulnerable following surgery.

But Kayleigh was able to return to school after a year of learning from home thanks to the ‘amazing’ support of Seaham High School staff.

"Health and safety at the school had to do a risk assessment but they have decided to have her back a couple of days a week,” dad Shaun said.

"She had been looking forward to getting back to school as it has been a long time for her [being at home] so it is good to get a bit of normality back."

A keen footballer, Kayleigh even returned to training with NSG Panthers in August.

"She pushed herself and was able to go back to training,” Shaun said.

"She was doing amazing and people couldn’t believe how quickly she was back on the pitch.”

However, after six weeks, Kayleigh was sadly unable to continue training due to safety concerns as coronavirus cases started to rise once again across the region.

Now she is maintaining her fitness at home with daily physiotherapy exercises and continues to have check-ups at the hospital every six weeks so doctors can monitor her progress.

"We can’t thank everyone enough – they have all been amazing from the team at the Freeman Hospital to the staff at Seaham High School,” Shaun said.

In an effort to show her thanks to the team who saved her life, Kayleigh has spent the last year fundraising for the Children’s Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital (CHUF).

She has been making and selling necklaces via her Instagram page every.beat_counts as well as carrying out sponsored exercise on her static bike at home in lieu of her planned Junior Great North Run effort, raising around £300. Kayleigh also plans to donate gifts to the youngsters on the hospital’s children’s ward this Christmas.

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