Jade McWilliam knows the importance of research into heart and circulatory disease.
Marking the upcoming birthday of the British Heart Foundation, the 20-year-old student nurse knows her life depended on it.
Born 10 weeks premature with a congenital heart condition, Jade’s heart stopped beating when she was just 15-days-old.
Jade had to go under the knife weighing no more than a 2lb bag of Tate & Lyle sugar.
Winning the unenviable crown of the UK’s smallest baby of that time to survive open heart surgery, there were more operations to follow.
But the RGU student has refused to let it hold her back.
And as British Heart Foundation ambassador, its 60th birthday party is one she’d never want to miss.
“The benefits of research into heart and circulatory diseases are lifesaving and I am living proof,” she says,
“There have been huge advances just in my lifetime and I can do things someone born 60-years-ago with my condition could never have contemplated.”
Fighting chance
It’s true had she been born in the 1950s Jade’s life-chances would have been far slimmer.
In those days the vast majority of babies diagnosed with a complex congenital heart condition in the UK died before their first birthday.
But today, thanks to research funded predominantly by the BHF in 300 institutions, more than eight out of 10 babies born with heart problems grow up to be adults.
This research has spearheaded the first UK heart transplant on May 3, 1968.
And it backed the development of pacemakers, clot-busting drugs, and the rollout of genetic-testing for inherited heart conditions.
However, with funding for new research halved due to the impact of Covid-19 this year, the charity says its need of public’s support has never been more dire.
‘Thank you for our precious Jade’
Over the years, Jade and her family have given up their time to raise awareness of the work of the BHF, helping to raise tens of thousands of pounds for research.
They have also given talks to schools and businesses and have helped to organise large-scale cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) teaching sessions.
Jade’s mother, Mags McWilliam, said it was at the centre of their lives.
“In a nutshell, the British Heart Foundation means the world to us.
“Without it, we wouldn’t have our precious Jade.”
Turning red
Landmarks and buildings will be turning red on Wednesday July 28th to mark the British Heart Foundation’s 60th birthday.
Aberdeen Football Club will also show their support for the nation’s heart
charity by lighting-up Pittodrie Stadium.
Marischal College will follow suit along with other monuments including The Kelpies, and the Falkirk Wheel, Perth Bridge, and the enormous Gothic clock at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh.
The BHF’s 60th birthday will celebrate the decades gone by and welcome donations to kick-start the next chapter.
Around 200 heart or heart-lung transplants are carried out in the UK each year.
The procedure was inspirational for Aberdeen artist Brian Keeley, who spent two months fighting for his life in intensive care before being put forward for a new heart.
Mr Keeley launched a joint exhibition with his 45-year-old artist wife, Bibo, to coincide with Scotland’s “presumed consent” organ donation law which is now in effect.
