'My new heart was so loud it stopped me sleeping'

A 23-year-old woman who received a heart transplant has described organ donation as a "beautiful gift".

Mehreen Ahmed, from Louth, Lincolnshire, said her new heartbeat was so strong she had been unable to sleep for days.

Before the operation, reading in bed would leave her gasping for breath. But just a year later, she completed the Great North Run.

Now, Miss Ahmed is hoping to encourage more people to agree to donate organs, especially among ethnic minority groups, amid concerns about low consent rates.

Miss Ahmed was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at the age of 15.

The condition causes the heart's muscle walls to become thin and stretched, so they cannot pump blood around the body properly.

Medication kept her heart stable, but she started to feel unwell last year, while revising for final exams at the University of Nottingham.

Her symptoms started with vomiting and loss of appetite and it got to the point where she "couldn't walk 10 steps".

She was taken to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, a leading centre for heart and lung transplants.

"The team there were incredible, but I went from routine list to urgent list within two weeks, and I was then shifted to intensive care," she said.

"At that point, the pain became agonising, and I submitted to my faith and put my trust in God.

"My faith is Islam and we're taught that hardships can lead to ease, and it definitely did in my case."

She received her new heart in June 2023 and woke up to brand new sensation.

She said: "You do feel like you're in someone else's body, because I had never known a strong heartbeat.

"It was so strong that usually you can't sleep for the first couple of days.

"You know when you change a clock in the house and the ticking puts you off?"

A year after the transplant, Miss Ahmed graduated from university with a degree in neuroscience.

"It was very emotional," she recalled. "I remembered my donor because without them, I wouldn't be crossing that stage and throwing my hat in the air."

In September, she took part in the Great North Run. She said she had wanted to give something back to the city where she received her new heart.

Figures from NHS Blood and Transplant show that, in the 12 months to April, only 32% of families of patients from ethnic minority groups agreed to donate their relative's organs, compared with 65% for white donors.

Miss Ahmed hopes speaking publicly about her journey can help change that.

"I started a blog to raise awareness," she said. "I come from a Pakistani background and my family are so encouraging."

However, she did not think her parents would have said yes to organ donation until, after her transplant, they had been "able to have open conversations".

She added: "I don’t think I will ever be able to fully express my gratitude to a family who had to suffer such tremendous loss and give a final gift so precious, so that someone like me could live again."

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