A Mountain Ash teenager has completed a sponsored swim to raise cash for the hospital where she had a life-saving heart operation.
Hannah Clark, aged 16, swam eight lengths at Hawthorn Swimming Pool near Pontypridd on February 12, raising around £500 for the Great Ormond Street Hospital charity.
Hannah underwent heart surgery at the London hospital three years ago after her body rejected her donor heart – 10 years after she received a transplant. She is thought to be the first UK patient to have her heart transplant reversed and has since made a good recovery.
Her mum Liz said: “She was over the moon to complete the swim. It’s a big achievement and I knew she could do it. She wasn’t tired at the end, surprisingly, and she could have done a few more lengths! Hannah thoroughly enjoyed the sponsored swim and would like to do another one.”
Liz thanked everyone who sponsored Hannah. “People have been so kind and we are very grateful,” she said.
Rhondda Cynon Taf’s Mayor, Cllr Robert Smith, went along to the sponsored swim to show his support.
“I would like to congratulate Hannah on her efforts to give something back to the hospital where she received life-saving treatment,” he said.
The first heart operation when Hannah was a baby saved her life because she had cardiomyopathy, which made her heart double in size, meaning it could have given out within a year. The donor heart was able to take over most of the role of pumping blood around her body, allowing her own heart, which continued beating too, to rest.
Her donor heart worked well until November 2005, when a routine check-up showed her body was rejecting it. The donor heart was disconnected, and Hannah’s own heart – which was never removed – was able to cope on its own.
