Shropshire Star

Shropshire woman in need of four new vital organs tackles items on her bucket list

A woman waiting for a life-saving quadruple organ transplant says she has got "more chance of winning the lottery".

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Sally-Ann Hart, 59, is suffering from multiple organ failure linked to diabetes. And she needs a new liver, pancreas, small bowel and possibly a kidney.

She has already nearly died four times and is now making the most of her time by ticking items off a bucket list, including going on holiday to Malta with her husband David.

And she now plans to do a charity walk.

Sally-Ann said: "In order to survive I will need a triple, possibly quadruple, organ transplant from the same person.

"I reckon I have more chance of winning the lottery.

But she adds: "I'm staying upbeat through it all and I have been told that I am brave and an inspiration.

"Having died and come back, it is obvious that I still have something else to achieve in life and if it means helping others, then that is what I will do."

Sally-Ann's problems first came to light when she started to fall asleep at her desk when she worked as a headteacher's personal assistant at Bishop Heber High School in Malpas.

In August 2013 surgeons had to remove 80 per cent of her stomach and fitt a gastric sleeve.

Since then, Sally-Ann, of Chirk, has lost 11 stone.

She has also had 2ft of her bowel removed to treat a blood clot.

In March last year she was sent for an emergency liver transplant at Addenbrooke's Hospital, but was told she had just a five per cent chance of surviving the operation which could take up to 12 hours.

Sally-Ann says: "I know I could die having or not having the operation – it's a Catch 22 situation.

I live each day as it comes, and that's why I came up with my bucket list.

"I have been on holiday to Malta and I had planned a charity walk down Snowdon, but that has had to change because of my current poor health.

"Instead I am doing the Walk of Hope round the Great Orme in Llandudno, on Saturday April 11, just before my silver wedding anniversary."

She says: "When I feel well I go out and enjoy life as much as I can, and when I have a bad day, then I chill out at home."

As part of her bucket list she is hoping to raise £3,000 for the Multi-Organ Transplant Support, which supported her husband emotionally and financially when she was sent to Addenbrooke's Hospital.

She says: "Obviously I want to raise as much money as I can, but I also want to raise awareness of the importance of the new organ donation legislation for Wales which comes into effect on December 1.

"It may be too late for me, but I want my experiences to be as positive as they can be.

"If it encourages people to sign up on the donor register, then I will have achieved something positive.

"I get tired very easily but I am now under the support of Wrexham Maelor Hospital and Nightingale House Hospice for complementary therapies and physiotherapy to try and improve my mobility and quality of life. The staff are fantastic. I can't fault any of them.

"The care I have received from staff has been excellent.

"Am I down-hearted? No," says Sally-Ann. "Life is for living.

"I am just an ordinary woman who is having to get on with what life has dealt me.

"I have so much to be thankful for and if people think I am an inspiration, then so be it," she says.

And she vows: "I plan to go out as a rocket and not a sparkler."

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