Funding for Megan to get her life saving open heart surgery

Hello My name is Megan, I’m 27 years old and live in North Lincolnshire with my husband James, our dog Otis and two cats Rudy and Buddy. In October 2020 I was diagnosed with a life threatening blood clotting condition called Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) which has led to me having four strokes, a heart attack, a pulmonary embolism and has meant I needed my first open heart surgery in Jan 2021 to fix my leaking valve, remove a mass from the right atrium of my heart and to close a hole in there too as well as a pulmonary endarterectomy procedure to remove the mass from my pulmonary artery. A second open heart surgery was then needed as my valve repair failed and needed a more complex repair just nine months after the first one. All of the above has happened in the space of 2 years.

On the 22nd May 2023 I got the devastating news that my tricuspid valve has deteriorated a third time but now instead for a severe leak I have severe narrowing which means my heart isn’t supplying blood as well as it needs to. It has led to further diagnosis of end stage heart failure and high pulmonary artery pressures. The consensus decision between many experts is to manage my symptoms with medication but not to fix the valve itself with further surgery as the risk of dying during the operation is far too high. This is a life limiting condition and without surgery, I will die an early death, and there simply isn’t enough research because of how rare the condition is so I don’t know whether it will be a sudden event or slow decline. I have been told to enjoy every day like it’s my last by my consultants.

On the 11th December 2023 I seeked a second opinion from another hospital in London to see whether they’d be willing to operate on my heart in order to save my life after I was deemed inoperable by my current hospital in Cambridge due to the high mortality risk. Unfortunately the other hospital agreed that I am inoperable for many reasons, mainly being my Antiphospholipid syndrome massively increasing the risk of me not making it through another surgery. Without this surgery I will die as a result of the severe tricuspid stenosis I have.

On the 8th July 2024 I seeked my final opinion from an NHS surgeon in London on whether or not he’d personally offer me surgery, he agreed I need the surgery urgently as my life is severely impacted by the heart valve disease but his waiting lists were too long on the NHS to offer me it due to the fact I cannot wait that long. I spoke to his secretary today who gave me a ballpark figure of £50,000 minimum to have this surgery privately in London, I could have it as soon as this month if I had the funds. If successful, this surgery would give me 20 years more. Please help spread the word far and wide and thank you to everyone who contributes by donating/sharing this for me, words cannot describe how much I appreciate it.