Mother of two has received life-changing double lung transplant surgery at Wythenshawe Heart and Lung Transplant Centre
Spreads awareness on just how important organ donations can be
A 45-year-old mother from Bolton who received a life-changing double lung transplant is aiming to raise awareness about organ donation.
Heather Bluer was just one of 8,000 people in the UK waiting for a transplant after years of waiting.
Heather had chest infections as a child and as an adult was told she had a genetic condition, Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, that can affect the lungs and liver.
The impact of the condition came to a head during covid. Heather started having ‘panic attacks’ when she began socialising again after shielding during lockdown.
She said her GP treated her for anxiety and depression at first, but she “rapidly became more unwell with various other symptoms”.
Heather said: “I told my GP I didn’t feel it was a mental illness and refused to take anymore medication, insisting on further tests. I actually said to the GP ‘I think I’m dying’.
Heather Bluer in hospital bed before her transplant
“After getting a heart scan, by which point I was in a wheelchair because I could no longer walk from the swelling, they told me the right-hand side of my heart was enlarged and leaking.
They thought this was being caused by the issues with my lungs. After taking my sats, which were so low they were not compatible with life, I was immediately admitted, put into a bed and linked up to various machines and oxygen.”
A significant decline
Heather was told she needed a double lung transplant, but her poor health meant it took longer than usual to be placed on the transplant list.
Over the next two years her health significantly declined. She became completely bed-bound and required daily carers as she tried to raise her two children.
Heather says her then 13-year-old daughter “was regularly drawing up my morphine and called 999 late at night more than once..
‘What it has given me is a greater value of the little things’
Heather Bluer
In June 2024, Heather received a call that a donor had become available and she needed to get to Wythenshawe Hospital immediately.
Heather was sent to Manchester’s world-renowned Heart and Lung Transplant Centre. The unit is one of only five specialist centres in the UK offering adult heart and lung transplantation, and the only one serving patients in the North West of England.
Just over 12 hours after receiving the call, she was in surgery.
A new ‘gift of life’
She said: “What it has given me is a greater value of the little things, I get to see my amazing children grow up and see milestones I never thought possible. Until recently I had never seen my son play football, I can take my daughter shopping, I can enjoy eating without issue, I can see family and friends without them being my carers.
“I get to be a mum again! 12 months ago I never would have thought this possible.
Heather Bluer with her children after her transplant
“I am alive and this is thanks to not only the amazing team at Wythenshawe but the incredible gift of life from my donor and their amazing family, debts that I can never begin to repay.”
Heather tells her story to “raise awareness of the amazing job the Wythenshawe Heart and Lung Transplant Centre do and raise awareness on organ donation.”
It takes just two minutes to confirm your decision to become an organ donor – more information at www.organdonation.nhs.uk or by using the NHS App.
