The Birmingham Transplant Centre is set to open at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham this autumn. A UHB Charity, £2 million fundraising appeal.
To raise these vital funds and awareness of this new Centre, UHB charity has been carrying out a range of interviews with those awaiting transplants and those who are in recovery to show the public who the centre will be supporting.
Peter Haughey, nicknamed ‘Postive Pete’ due to his incredible attitude despite his diagnosis was first shown on the charity’s social media platforms back in September.
Peter, 55, a dad of 2 from Yardley, had a heart attack in 2019, soon after he developed serious heart failure which resulted in him being placed on the routine transplant list. At the end of 2020 he deteriorated and was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. He was then stabilised and further deteriorated in March 2021 where he was told he had been bumped up to the urgent transplant list and would remain at the QEHB until he received a suitable heart.
Peter has been married to his wife Andrea for 28 years, he said, “If we can get through this afterwards on our 30th wedding anniversary we are going to renew our vows, if we can do that somewhere nice and warm that would be great!”
When asked what advice Pete would give to a new patient on the transplant list, he said, “Everyday can be quite a lonely day but the staff do an amazing job to try and combat that. They make me feel as cared for and as loved as possible. It’s a horrible journey it’s out of our control there’s nothing you can really do about the journey you’re on. It’s just the cards you have been dealt and you have to play them. You have got to embrace the care and love the nurses give you. You’ve got to do what the doctors say. If they tell you to exercise, to keep active, to go about your day as best as you can, they are telling you for a reason. The stronger you can make yourself on this side the easier it will be afterwards. I’ve seen one or two that it has been easier for on the other side because they have been active. Try and keep yourself as sane and comfortable as possible, if your thing is music play music, if your thing is games bring a console and a TV in. Do what you would do at home as best as you can even though you are away from home.”
When asked about how Pete feels about the day he receives a transplant, he said, “There’s a bitter sweetness about that day as somebody unfortunately has to end their time on this earth for you to continue yours. And that’s sad for the donor and the donor’s family but it’s absolutely a lifeline. I don’t think there is any gift that is anywhere near that for someone like me. It’s a gift of life. You don’t get any bigger than that. Thank you isn’t enough. I can try to treat the heart with the greatest of respect and do the best for the person who is giving me that gift. I’ll try to live in their honour and do the best for them. For them to live on within me. Hopefully to the fullest of my ability and to make them and their family proud.”
Pete’s first interview was split into two parts which can be watched here. Since filming, Pete has finally received his long awaited heart transplant and returned home this January after 10 months in hospital with no visitors due to covid restrictions.
The new Transplant Centre will support patients just like Pete and their families. It will be a national centre of excellence for organ transplantation and will be funded in its entirety by UHB Charity. It will put patient care at the forefront of transplantation and will create a ‘one stop shop’ for patients undergoing organ transplants.
The new centre will bring all the specialist care to patients, including pre-transplant consultations, additional fitness classes before surgery, patient support groups, and rehabilitation classes after surgery.
There are only two hospitals in the UK that carry out all four organ transplants: heart, lung, liver and kidney – the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and Freeman Hospital Newcastle. The organ transplant programme in Birmingham is nearly twice as large as Newcastle’s.
UHB Charity wants to bring all of the specialist care available to the patient, taking away a huge amount of stress and therefore speeding up recovery time. University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust will be able to offer even more transplants and therefore save even more lives.
To donate to the Birmingham Transplant Centre please go to: https://www.hospitalcharity.org/birminghamtransplantcentre.
