Linda Gorn has a vivid memory of the heart attack that almost killed her.
It was just before 8am at the end of April last year and she was recovering at home from an operation for an aneurysm. Suddenly, there was nothing but unbearable pain.
“It just hit me, no warning, nothing, absolutely nothing,” she recalls.
“I honestly could not believe that you could have such pain. Having a child is a doddle compared to having a heart attack.”
She was rushed to Elgin in an ambulance and given a clot-busting drug before being whisked to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary’s cardiac unit, where surgeons fitted her with a stent.
Complications from her aneurysm meant Linda stayed in ARI for a month.
But she is under no illusions about how close she was to death, and her debt to the hospital’s cardiac team.
“I really thought that’s me, thank you very much,” she says. ”But they were there to save me.”
To thank the staff, Linda has done something unusual – she designed a tartan for them.
That’s because Linda, 74, along with her husband Brian, is the co-owner of the Keith Kilt and Textile Centre, a kilt school that trains kiltmakers.
Tartan is what she knows, so when it came to designing one for the cardiac unit she made sure it reflected the experience she went through.
“There are three colours in the tartan,” Linda says of the pattern she has aptly christened Hearts of Grampian.
“Grey is the main colour which represents how scared you feel when you have a heart attack.
“The red line represents blood, of course, while the white is for the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Silent dogs, chickens and the power of the mind
The tunnel of light has particular significance for Linda as it reminds her of the strange things she saw while in hospital.
Yes, there was a white light, but there were other visions, too. For example, she saw two dogs sit silently on the floor, one black and one white. There were also chickens running loose.
Meanwhile, she could change the colour of the ward’s walls from cream to green just by thinking about it.
She now knows the hallucinations were from the heavy opioids she was on.
But at the time they felt real, and she praises the patience of the cardiac unit staff for helping her eventually understand the truth.
Indeed, Linda says the tartan is for these many acts of everyday kindness and consideration staff afforded her during her stay.
“It’s my gratitude, and to acknowledge the work that they do,” she adds. “I think a lot of people take it for granted.
“People don’t realise the compassion and dedication. There’s such a lot going on that they miss their lunch and their break times.
“There’s so much they have to do when the pressure’s on.”
Raffle to raise money for Aberdeen’s cardiac unit
Early last month, Linda was back at the cardiac unit in Aberdeen to show staff swatches of the tartan and announce the launch of a raffle to raise money for the ward.
The main prize in the raffle is a full kilt outfit made from the cardiac unit’s new colours, worth a total of £1,500.
Other prizes include a painting from local artist Charlie Roy worth £750 and jewelry worth £500.
Tickets are £5 each and proceeds will go to the fund set up for the cardiac unit. The raffle will be drawn on Saturday June 17.
Meanwhile, people can order scarves or kilts made from the tartan, with part of the sale going towards the fund.
More stories of Aberdeen cardiac unit’s compassion
Walking around the wards in ARI last month, Linda was joined by Andrew Simpson, the Lord-Lieutenant of Banffshire, who also has first-hand experience of the cardiac unit.
In November 2021, he was admitted to ARI with pneumonia. His condition deteriorated and he was placed on a ventilator.
However, a ruptured papillary muscle meant he was given a replacement valve and a bypass.
Andrew is backing the fundraiser, while also shining a spotlight on the hard work and compassion he was given by ARI staff after his operation.
“One of the things I do remember very much was not just the big operation, but also just the encouragement and personal comments,” he says.
He recalls, for example, the help he got when battling to pull on the medical socks he was supposed to wear, or when at the physio and trying to go a lap of the room with his walking stick.
“It was just the small comments people made at different times,” he says. “The encouragement to keep going.”
Linda mentions the physiotherapy she received. After the heart attack, she couldn’t walk.
But step by step, she got back on her feet, supported all the way by the determination of her physio.
“I could not have done it I hadn’t had the physiotherapist explain to me how to do it,” she says.
Receiving gifts like the Heart of Grampian tartan is ‘really humbling’
For the staff, Linda’s contribution is definitely a first. The Aberdeen cardiac team are used to receiving gifts from grateful patients, but no one has designed a tartan for them before.
“I appreciate it,” says Jade Matheson, an advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) that helped looked after Linda when she was in hospital. “It’s nice to have something like this.”
Gavin Coutts, also an ANP, says his reward is seeing patients back out in the community.
But he adds: “To see patients come back and show their gratitude, it’s really humbling.”
To find information on how to take part in the raffle, click here. Raffle tickets can be bought using PayPal.
