Ashleigh needed a transplant after her heart muscle thickened (Image: NHSBT)
A young woman whose life was saved by a “lifeline” heart transplant in May has backed an NHS appeal for one million more people to join the organ donation register by the end of this year. Ashleigh Tucker, 26, from Coventry, developed dilated cardiomyopathy after suffering from pneumonia as a baby. Over time, her heart muscle became thicker and she was often left breathless and exhausted.
Ashley was told she was in heart failure after ending up in hospital with bronchitis in November 2021. She said: “Hearing those words changes everything. The last few years were up and down. Some days just getting out of bed left me gasping. I tried rehab and new meds. I was in and out of hospital with chest pain and suspected myocarditis. It felt like every time I tried to get back on my feet; something knocked me back down.”
Ashleigh joined the transplant waiting list last summer and received a call to tell her a heart was available in May. The organ had been intended for another patient who was too sick for surgery.
Ashleigh said: “Because it was fast‑track, they needed someone close by, and they thought I was a match. I went completely blank. I couldn’t speak. I was shaking. It didn’t feel real.
“Around half seven they took me down for my transplant. Even then, they couldn’t be certain until I was asleep that it would be viable and would go ahead as they needed to do extra checks.”
The surgery was successful. Ashleigh is still recovering and due to start cardiac rehabilitation soon. She added: “I don’t think there are enough words for what donation really means to us as a family.
“It’s a crazy situation — the hardest thing a family will ever face — and somehow it still becomes a lifeline for someone else. Thank you just doesn’t seem enough.
“You can’t imagine losing someone you love. But maybe there’s a tiny bit of comfort in knowing that, through their gift, they’ve helped people keep living.”
England now has an opt-out system for organ donation but families are still consulted. Family consent or authorisation for donations across the UK has dropped by almost a fifth from 69% in 2020/21 to 57% in 2025/26.
Ashleigh is still recovering from the major operation (Image: NHSBT)
Almost 90% of families support donation when they know their loved one wanted to be a donor and had registered, according to NHS Blood and Transplant.
However, that figure drops to less than 50% when the deceased person’s wishes are unknown.
Almost 29 million people in the UK have recorded their decision by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register. The service is appealing for one million more to join by 2027.
Anthony Clarkson, NHSBT’s director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation, said: “Family support for organ donation has been in steady decline over the last few years, and we need to reverse that trend.
“That’s why we are asking people in the UK to be ‘One in a Million’ and drive up the number of people on the NHS Organ Donor Register to 30 million by the start of 2027.
“It gives your family that certainty that you want donation to go ahead and it’s expected that they honour that decision.
“I would urge people who haven’t already done so to express your decision to donate via the Organ Donor Register and for families to remember that decision and honour it should the time come.
“It’s the final act you can do for them to honour their memory and leave a lasting legacy to be proud of.”
