A Plea from the Heart for Support

From the Class of 1993, Siân was a pupil at LEH at both the Junior and Senior Schools, before returning here, first as a French and German teacher, and then after having her daughter Megan, Class of 2024, and son Ben, working as a much-loved piano teacher.

“I feel incredibly lucky to be here,” said Siân. “I want to be able to give back to the outstanding Harefield Hospital. The care and support I received from all members of staff was incredible, from the world-class doctors and the brilliantly caring and knowledgeable specialist nurses and healthcare assistants to the amazing support staff and wonderful housekeeping team.

“Everyone made an effort to get to know me really well and made me feel part of a supportive and caring community. They gave me the strength and confidence to fight in what could have otherwise been an unbearable situation.”

The fundraising campaign is the idea of friends who have all been inspired by the astounding bravery and resilience Siân has shown. They have organised a bespoke marathon route along the Thames, starting at Tower Bridge and ending at Hampton Court Bridge, on Saturday 12th April.

Siân, who is working on building strength and fitness and is now able to walk an incredible 7km just three months after the life-changing surgery, will be cheering on participants, who include fellow LEH alumna and parents. Please show your support by sponsoring them on Siân’s Just Giving page HERE.

Despite being a sports-loving child and an incredibly fit young woman, Siân was diagnosed with congenital heart disease at the age of 24. For many years her cardiomyopathy was well managed with a combination of medication and a cardiac defibrillator which was implanted in 2000.

However, while on summer holiday on a Greek island in 2023, Siân suffered an extreme cardiac episode. “It was both frightening and extremely painful,” recalls Siân.  The local hospital didn’t have the necessary specialist equipment, so she was transferred to the mainland via ambulance and remained in Patras Hospital for a week.

After returning to the UK, the problems with the rhythm of her heart increased, until she went into intractable heart failure in June 2024 and was told her only hope was a heart transplant. After being assessed at Harefield Hospital she was put on the urgent heart transplant list and admitted as an in-patient to await a suitable heart.

One of the psychological challenges of being on the transplant list is that there’s no knowledge of how long each patient will have to wait for an appropriate organ and no certainty about how long it will take to recover after such major surgery.

The only certainty is that this is different for everyone, so the staff at Harefield and the facilities available to patients are crucial to the wellbeing of those waiting.

Siân explained: “During my time at Harefield, I was able to benefit from the ‘family room’ which was donated by another family after fundraising efforts. This room is a haven for patients needing a change of scene, and a less sterile environment in which to meet family and friends."

“As a music teacher, I also benefitted from being able to have a keyboard in my room and was therefore able to give piano lessons to a couple of the nurses – a source of great pleasure for me. Finally, I was able to do something for someone else. I hope that through our fundraising efforts, we can contribute towards similar support and relief going forwards.”

After a four-month-stay in hospital, and a few false starts, on 5th October 2024, Siân underwent a heart transplant. Her recovery was far from smooth, but she battled through, incredibly courageously, and was discharged from hospital at the end of November. She was overjoyed to be out of hospital in time to spend a wonderful Christmas with all her family.

“I feel so touched that LEH is getting behind me like this,” said Siân who hopes to return to work in due course. “Several friends from LEH days have got back in touch after hearing the news.  Thank you so much to them, to my amazing family and all my friends for their love and strength.  I am very lucky to have such a fantastic network around me. There are no words to express my incredible gratitude to the donor family, St George’s and Harefield Hospitals.”

Siân, who is still in the early stages of recovery, is already feeling better than she has done in years. “Ever since being diagnosed, my heart had been deteriorating, and I’d grown used to living with a heart that wasn’t pumping very well. Being put on the transplant list was both terrifying and exciting – for the first time it was offering a potential cure.

“I tried to live day to day while I waited, but after the operation I was overcome with emotion, just full of joy and happy tears. It’s taken a while, but I’ve been adjusting to the new medications, working on my recovery and now I feel really good. It’s been transformational on every level. I feel so very lucky and I’m really excited about the possibility of being more active again.”

Please show some LEH love by donating to Siân’s Harefield Marathon Walk here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/sians-harefield-marathon-walk. All proceeds will go to the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity, which raises money to provide world-class care to thousands of heart and lung patients each year, and to support the hospitals' pioneering work in heart and lung disease diagnosis, treatment and research.

If you are logged into your Holles Connect account, you will be able to see a collection of photos charting Siân's recovery below.