I was 11 years old when I found out that I had a Heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, inherited from my mother. Life continued as normal through my teenage years until May 2001 when my mum passed away unexpectedly due to complications of the Heart condition. This is when I received more intense tests and found out that it was more severe than first thought as I received an implantable ICD that could give my Heart an electrical shock if needed.

I continued with normal life once again, got married had two wonderful children and all was going to plan.
Then May 2015 my world changed forever when I contracted pneumonia and ended up on life support for a week with multi organ failure and sepsis.

For three years I fought with all my strength to stay healthy but due to multiple hospital admissions with two mild strokes, multiple infections my Heart started to deteriorate.

In the summer of 2018 with me now in hospital full time due to my Heart function only at 8% and time running out I was placed on the emergency Heart Transplant list.

Then in September 2018 a time that I will never forget because I knew I was dying and running out of time when I received the ultimate gift of life from a complete stranger and her family.

From that day my life began again. I was at home with my family within three weeks putting our life back together as a family because another family made the selfless decision to donate their loved ones organs, saving five lives on that faithful night.

I now have a real appreciation and zest for life and that is why I joined the Irish Transplant Football team in 2020 to show the world the benefits of a Transplant and how it can change your life forever and to raise awareness of organ donation.
We have competed in three tournaments so far, silver medallist in our first Transplant UK tournament in Solihull, March 2023, bronze medallist In the British Transplant games in Coventry in July 2023.

We are now preparing for the very first Transplant Football World Cup in Cervia, Italy on September 2024 and go there with great pride, hope and excitement all because we have been given a second chance at life.

Please have the conversation of organ donation with your loved ones.