She is the only reason this little girl is alive today (the new
paper)
RUSH HOUR ANGEL
December 27, 2007
HE wasn't carrying a patient, but his cargo was no less important.
It was a heart that would save the life of a 3-year-old girl - if
he could get it to her on time.
Laura with mum Julia Whitworth. -- Pictures: WORLDWIDE
FEATURES
The driver faced a tight deadline to cut through morning rush hour
traffic before it was too late to use the organ.
But he was less than 13km from Great Ormond Street Hospital in
London when things went wrong.
After swerving to avoid a car that pulled out in front of him, he
crashed into a kerb and burst two tyres.
Repairing the damage was out of the question, and there was no time
to call a back-up ambulance.
With time ticking and traffic creeping, the driver flagged down the
first car he saw.
Mrs Margaret Rollinson, 57, was on her way to work when she saw the
man waving frantically.
'I was just driving to work and I could hear the ambulance siren,
then I saw it at the side of the road,' recalled the personal
assistant.
'The driver flagged me down and he asked me to take him to the
nearest police station.
'He reached inside the ambulance and brought out a box which he put
on my back seat.
'Then the driver said that he didn't want to panic me, but in the
box was a heart which was needed for a transplant, so could I drive
quickly.'
Laura thanks Mrs Rollinson for saving her life with a bouquet and a
smile.
At Great Ormond Street, little Laura Whitworth was lying on the
operating table with her own heart taken out.
She had been waiting desperately for a life-saving heart transplant
for three weeks.
Laura was diagnosed with an enlarged heart condition called dilated
cardiomyopathy in July last year. The condition causes the muscles
in her heart to become weak, making it unable to pump blood
efficiently.
TURN FOR WORSE
Laura's condition worsened over the next 12 months and in July this
year she was rushed by helicopter to the hospital where she was put
on an artifical heart machine called a Berlin Heart to keep her
alive whilst waiting for a transplant.
By the time a donor heart was found, Laura had reached a point of
no return. Without the heart, she would surely die.
She was fighting for her life as the heart was flown to Luton
airport, and an emergency ambulance unit was sent to fetch
it.
And then it crashed.
Mrs Rollinson recalled the harrowing drive to the nearest police
station.
'I didn't panic, I just drove as fast as I could with Laura's
heart, through the traffic. For the first time in my life, I drove
through a red light - and I also drove briefly on the wrong side of
the road.'
When they reached the police station about 1.6km away, the heart
was then taken by police escort down to Great Ormond Street where
the five-hour operation went without a hitch.
Mrs Rollinson added: 'After we had safely delivered the heart, I
had to go into a side road and catch my breath.
'You never know what's going to happen when you get out of bed in a
morning. I never imagined when I drove to work that morning, that I
would be involved in delivering a new heart to a little
girl.'
And Laura's parents could not be more grateful.
Her father, Mr Andy Whitworth, 38, a builder, who lives with wife
Julia, 31, and their elder daughter Lucie, 4, said: 'If Mrs
Rollinson hadn't driven the driver with Laura's heart to the police
station when she did, Laura wouldn't have been here today.
'She had been taken down to the operating theatre and her own heart
had been removed, and as the doctors told us, it was the point of
no return.
'If the heart hadn't arrived when it did, we would have lost her.
We just can't thank Mrs Rollinson enough for what she did. Our
family call her our 'guardian angel'. She helped save Laura's
life.'
Little Laura has made a miraculous recovery and even gone back to
school in October.
Mrs Rollinson sent her a get well card, and last week she came face
to face with the little girl whose life she helped to save.
Said Mrs Rollinson: 'It was wonderful to meet Laura and see how
well she is doing. She looked so healthy and full of life - it was
great to see.'
Mr Whitworth added: 'It was very emotional to meet Mrs Rollinson
and Laura gave her a bunch of flowers to say thank you. If it
hadn't been for her, Laura may not have been here today.'