This is Sarah-Jane and her dad, Len, who received a new heart at Harefield Hospital in 2014

“Firstly,” says Sarah-Jane, “I would like thank all the staff at Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, without whom our dad wouldn't be here today.

On 9 June 2014, our dad Len Serpant was having a routine check up on his pacemaker, which he had had for nine years. To our shock, the doctors said, ‘we are keeping you in, as your heart isn't working probably’. The staff looked after him wonderfully but Dad got worse, and they put him on the emergency list for a heart transplant. By September, Dad had gone really downhill and the doctors said, in the absence of a heart donor, he would have to be fitted with an artificial heart – known as a left-ventricle assist device (LVAD). On Monday 8 September, Dad was prepped to have the operation to insert the LVAD. But at the very last moment, we had a phone call to say that a transplant coordinator had rushed into theatre with news that a heart had been found! The very next day, at 5am, Dad was given his new heart. Following the operation, Dad was well looked after by the wonderful staff on Harefield’s Intensive Care Unit and then the High Dependency Unit, and was discharged on 9 June, 2015 – a year to the date he went in for his routine check-up. Almost two years later, he is doing really well.

My family, friends and I would like to thank the person who donated their heart and to their family for helping to save our dad. We cannot believe dad’s miraculous recovery and so would also like to say thank you to all the staff members who looked after him and for all the support we received throughout a very hard year.