Evelyn's heart comes of age
Not many people get to come of age twice in their life, but Evelyn Powell from Wednesfield has done just that.
The first milestone was celebrated 21 years after she was born – the second 21 years after she received a life-saving heart transplant.
She said: "I can't believe the operation was all those years ago. I hadn't got long to live but it saved me and meant I could have a normal life."
And Mrs Powell, of Bealeys Avenue, has not gone easy on her second heart.
The Express & Star covered the story on April 10, 1986, when Mrs Powell was rushed into Papworth Hospital in Cambridge when a donor organ became available.
Three days later she made the front page again when, while she was recovering from the four hour operation, burglars smashed their way into her empty house and stole a television set, microwave, two cameras and some money.
Her new heart has also got her through the death of her father and a second transplant operation in 1993 – this time for a kidney. She said: "The medication I was given for my heart damaged my kidney so I went under the knife again.
"People think it must be really scary but you don't think of it like that. I think of it like a treadmill, you don't have a choice but to keep going forward."
Mrs Powell, who has two children Alan, 30 , and Michelle, 32, became seriously ill in 1983 when she was struck down with a virus.
The full-time mother and part-time dinner lady's muscles in her heart deteriorated and doctors told her family that her only chance of survival was a transplant.
She said: "At that point it doesn't matter whether you have faith in medicine or not. You just have it done and hope for the best.
"But the doctors made me as good as new, or better than new.
"I have to go back to Papworth twice a year and people say I should transfer to New Cross because it's only down the road.
"But the people in Cambridge saved me and I really trust them. Going back is like going home."
Before her transplant Mrs Powell was wheelchair-bound after suffering from the mystery virus.
But 15 months after consultant surgeon Mr John Wallwork carried out the 151st operation of its kind in the UK the patient was pictured in the Express & Star again – this time in happier circumstances going out on a bike ride with Alan and Michelle.
The family went on to hold fundraising events such as jumble sales to raise money for the hospital.
Mrs Powell now has two granddaughters Sarah, 11, and Chloe, five, and said she was able to play with them like any other 55-year-old.
She said: "I get out of breath every now and then and I can feel myself slowing down, but who doesn't when they get older?" Alan took his mum to the cinema with the rest of the family this week to watch Mr Bean, and then to the Grand Theatre to see the Chuckle Brothers, to celebrate her second "21st birthday".
He said: "We celebrate her birthday every year but we thought the 21st anniversary of the transplant was worth doing something special for too."
With a bit of luck and plenty of determination, Mrs Powell is likely to soon become a record breaker.
Alan said: "The longest surviving transplant is 28 years, and Europe's is 25 years, so we're hoping she sets a new world record."
By Daniel Pountney
