I’m alive today because I had a heart transplant at the age of 38. I grew up in fear of what was around the corner because I knew that my heart was unreliable. Life was a rollercoaster of optimism and depression, the ups and downs of a future that ultimately relied on someone, somewhere, giving me the biggest gift possible – their heart.

A woman who died before her time, who I will never get to thank, gave me that gift. I can’t begin to tell you what this has meant to me and those I love.

I was born with a congenital heart defect called transposition of the great arteries, where the heart’s main arteries are the wrong way round. I had open heart surgery (aged three), endocarditis (seven), a heart attack (13), mini strokes (21), and a defibrillator fitted in my 30s. By my mid-30s I had developed heart failure and was deteriorating rapidly.

My life was in limbo. I was too ill to recover but too well for a transplant. There were not enough organs available and others had greater need. My wife did everything for me, bar washing and dressing. The world was passing me by; I was too tired to keep up.

At 6am on 31 July 2009, after a year on the transplant list, we received the call asking me to come in and my life changed.

After surgery, I remember thinking how powerful my new heartbeat was – loud and perfectly in time. It never deviated, it didn’t fail, and I cried for the kindness of strangers, the healthcare professionals who looked after me, and my donor, dead at 50 from a brain haemorrhage, whose family tragedy was my salvation.

Once out of hospital my health continued to improve. I had energy. I delighted in tasks like housework, I passed people on my daily walks, and I was no longer a patient. I wrote a letter of gratitude to my donor’s family, and heard back with descriptions of her life. I am so privileged to feel I knew her and that my second chance at life provides some solace for her family.

I couldn’t give my old heart to a person in need, so I donated it to medical research. British Heart Foundation-funded researcher Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan of Imperial College London has been studying this faulty organ for the past eight years as part of her research into the hearts of babies born with congenital defects.

My experience and situation were not unique. As of 31 March 2017, there were around 250 people on the active heart transplant list. In 2016-17, 40 people in the UK in need of a heart transplant died while on the list. This is the reality for hundreds of critically ill heart patients across England.

I have been given a second chance at life, but I have met many others who are still waiting for that gift. A new heart is their only chance of survival. With so many people in need, an opt-out system is a no-brainer. If we would be willing to accept an organ, why would we not give one?

This is why I have been supporting the BHF’s calls for an opt-out system for organ donation in England. This would consider anyone an organ donor unless they have stated otherwise. It would better reflect the views of the majority of the population – polls show that 90% of people support organ donation.

But legislation is only part of the solution. We need to drive cultural change across England and create a country that is far better engaged with organ donation.

We also need a health system that can cope effectively with these changes to ensure that organ donation becomes a routine feature of hospital practice.

At the centre is the family. It’s a stressful and distressing time when loved ones die, and there’s usually not much time to decide on these sensitive issues because donation must happen quickly to protect organs.

We have a long way to go before more people waiting for a heart receive that call to say it’s their turn, but I believe an opt-out system of organ donation, packaged with education, discussion and legislation, will be a great step towards saving lives.

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