At first I thought it would be easy to write our story, but it hasn’t been as easy as I thought. It unearthed many emotions from a difficult year, but it may help me, as well as others reading.

I always thought nothing would ever happen to either my Mum or my Dad, but 2017 showed me that no one is invincible.

In January, Dad was diagnosed with angina. He had been experiencing symptoms for two years but put it down to indigestion, despite a family history of heart disease.

One day in March, Dad had a spate of angina attacks that continued through to the evening. We wanted advice so called the clinic – resulting in an ambulance being sent. Paramedics wanted him to go into hospital, so off we went to Northampton General Hospital.

At the same time, my Nanny was also in hospital and the day after dad was admitted she passed away. Devastation does not come close to how we felt as a family, it was completely unexpected and we were completely unprepared.

Dad had to wait a few days for his angiogram, but we were finally told that a bypass was required. He was transferred to Harefield Hospital in late March and my Mum, brother and I stayed onsite at the relative’s accommodation, which was a god send.

The morning of his bypass came quickly. The operation seemed to last for days and days, but we were finally told that the operation had been successful.

The next few days were tough – physically for Dad and emotionally for us as a family. Dad was transferred to HDU and the staff in HDU, like all the other wards we had come across, were amazing. They knew about my Nanny passing away and made sure they kept an extra watchful eye over Dad.

While sat outside HDU on the 1 April, I found myself writing a poem. I hadn’t written for years but at this moment I felt I needed to share my feelings, be brave and bare my soul.

Harefield Hospital looked after my Dad like he was the most precious person – like he is to us. Our questions were answered, we were never rushed and we were supported.

Thank you can never be enough. The care and attention at Harefield shows the tremendous work our NHS does.

I am eternally grateful.

Kelly Kostova