On March 2, we were honoured to welcome 400 supporters to a very special evening of talks at the Royal Geographical Society. People had travelled from the Middle East, Italy and the US to hear from our speakers, most notably, Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub.

The evening began with three very powerful and moving poems, written and read by Lord Grey Gowrie who was a patient at Harefield and had a dramatic surgical transplant operation called a ‘Domino Procedure’.

Dr Rosemary Radley-Smith then told us about some of her most extraordinary patients, all of whom survived very rare and serious heart conditions, and whom now lead full lives, thanks to the pioneering work at Harefield. Hannah was one such patient. Rosemary explained that the procedure Hannah was given that saved her life had never previously been performed, and has never been performed since, making her case entirely unique in the medical world. Hannah was there with her own young son.

And then we heard from Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, who chose to deflect the glory from himself by citing many colleagues he has worked with over the years. Sir Magdi began by reminding the audience that only a few decades ago, transplantation was deemed ‘immoral’ by the authorities. It now saves the lives of thousands every year.

Sir Magdi had the audience hooked with his use of visuals, music and even a Morecambe and Wise sketch during his speech. He finished to rapturous applauds before the queues of former patients of his started to form.

We were delighted that the event raised almost £3,000 towards Harefield Hospital.