Mum Victoria Moore to wed on transplant anniversary

Dec 7 2009 by Helen Rae, The Journal

She was told she only had weeks to live and that a heart transplant operation was her only chance of survival.

But to make matters worse doctors found she had antibodies in her blood which would cause her body to reject a new heart.

And when her condition took a turn for the worse in January last year she was told to say goodbye to her children Adam, 17, Andrew, 15, Billy, 14, Rachel, 12, and Cerys, 10.

“It is devastating to be told you are going to die, but I never really believed I was,” explained Victoria.

“I couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye as I was determined to fight on until the end. I never gave up hope I would survive and get better.”

Desperate doctors tried a pioneering form of dialysis which had only been used on kidney patients to try to remove some of the antibodies in Victoria’s blood. Luckily it worked and a new heart donor was quickly found.

Victoria said: “It has been the toughest two years of my life and I’m glad it is all behind me. My family and I have been through so much and I never want to go through it again. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

“Before I fell ill I could do anything I wanted and I was quite active, but now I do very little and I generally just stay in the house as I’m worried something will happen to me if I go out on my own. But this is the first year since my operation that I’ve not had any health setbacks and I’m just focusing on my future with Shane and the kids.”

Victoria and Shane are due to get married at Morpeth Registry Office on January 26 – two years to the day since her heart transplant.

Shane, a former trucker, said: “It has been a horrible couple of years but we are looking forward to Christmas with the family and getting married.”