Angie Ridley was born with a heart defect and the prognosis could not have been worse. Twenty years after a heart transplant, she is ready to climb mountains, as Ashley Barnard reports

WHEN her daughter was born with a serious heart defect and given only weeks to live, Brenda Adey refused to accept the prognosis. Twenty years later, Brenda believes her daughter, Angie Ridley, survived in part thanks to homeopathic remedies, and partly because of grit and determination.

Now Angie, 41, is embarking on 20 challenges she thought she would never be able to do; such as ride a bike, tap dance, and even climb a mountain.

Brenda, who lives in Skelton, near Marske village, outside Richmond with partner David Long, said when Angie was born in 1972, there was very little doctors could do for her condition and she was told to take her home and that should would probably die within a few weeks.

But Brenda, who runs a homeopathy business in Richmond, did not accept that for a second.

“She was very sick – she had to be fed every two hours and was just sick again so it was a constant battle – but against the odds, at seven months old she was taken back into hospital for an operation to correct the transposition of her heart,” she said.

Transposition of the great arteries (TGA) is a complex congenital heart defect in which the two large arteries that carry blood out of the heart are wrongly connected to the heart.

The aorta is attached to the right-sided ventricle, instead of the left, and the pulmonary artery is attached to the left-sided ventricle, instead of the right.

People with the condition do not get enough oxygenated blood and their skin and lips have a blue tint. It also causes rapid breathing and can make eating difficult.

Veins were taken from Angie’s neck to put this right – but even after surgery as a baby she needed a heart transplant later in life.

Brenda said: “Doctors wanted to do a heart transplant when she was 11, as they thought she would be old enough then.

“In those days it was not known how long the operation would give a person to live, and I couldn’t make that decision for her.”

Angie had a normal childhood, although she did not have as much energy as her friends and was not able to join in a lot of sports.

Brenda became interested in homeopathic remedies when Angie was 11 and found them to be a great help for her daughter.

“Homeopathy is a system of healing yourself – it does not work on everyone, but we found it to be extremely beneficial,” she said.

“It works by acting on the spirit of the person, and Angie responded really well to it.”

Homeopathy is a system of medicine that involves treating the individual with highly diluted substances, given mainly in tablet form, with the aim of triggering the body’s natural system of healing. Based on their specific symptoms, a homeopath will match the most appropriate medicine to each patient.

Angie finally had her heart transplant in 1993 when she was 21 at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle after waiting for a donor for eight months.

Brenda said: “We got the call late at night and Angie had already gone to bed, but the ambulance came straight away and it took 35 minutes to get from Richmond to the hospital in Newcastle – the ambulance went so fast.”

Doctors predicted that Angie would live for between five and ten years – but could make no predictions beyond that.

But as part of her self-set challenge Angie has already conquered mountain Cadair Idris, in Snowdonia, Wales; has had a go at belly dancing and archery; and most recently completed a high wire course at Arial Extreme, in Bedale, North Yorkshire.

Angie, who lives in Cambridgeshire, said: “I wanted to do a 20-20 Heart Challenge – 20 firsts to celebrate 20 years of healthy post-heart transplant life.

‘IT came from a need to do something positive to mark my 20th anniversary – to give thanks to the family of my donor for making the difficult decision that transformed my life; and to raise money for the Freeman Heart and Lung Transplant Association, and the Papworth Hospital Charity.

“Thanks to the transplant I have been able to live a normal life, take part in sports, finish my degree, get married and have two gorgeous children.”

Brenda became so interested in homeopathy that she began training with the Society of Homeopaths when Angie was 13 and is now a registered practitioner.

It is based on the principle of treating like with like – so a substance that causes symptoms when taken in large doses can be used in small amounts to treat the same symptoms.

Small doses of allergens such as pollen are sometimes used to de-sensitise allergic patients.

Angie has been writing a blog of her progress in her challenge, and hopes to encourage and reassure people who are waiting for a transplant that life after the operation can be lived to the full.

She said: “I have linked up with people who are on a waiting list and chatted to them about my experiences.

“It is different for different people, but I have always thought I could do anything I wanted - it just takes me a little bit longer than other people.”