'You can do it Mandy!' A message to Hartlepool's transplant superhero as she battles for health

Miracle woman Mandy Andrews, 52, has been in the headlines ever since she had a heart and lung transplant in April 1986.

But now, 34 years later, Mandy needs the support of people across town as she battles a number of health conditions.

She is being treated in James Cook University Hospital where she is on the renal unit but her family today urged Mail readers to help keep Mandy’s spirits up as she fights her latest battle.

Sarah Lewis, 34, is Mandy’s goddaughter. She said: “We want to get the town behind her and get some support for her. We are not allowed to visit but we are doing everything we can to keep her spirits up.

"We are keeping in touch with her through Facebook, audio calls and video calls and we are trying to get that positivity through to her.”

Sarah added: “At the moment she's in intensive care at James Cook receiving oxygen due to complications with her heart and kidney, and a serious lung infection. But she's remaining positive and fighting through each day like the warrior she is.”

She urged Hartlepool people to ‘get behind her’ just as they have done throughout her life.

She described Mandy as ‘in a league of her own’ and the amazing mum-of-one has defied the odds all her life.

Mandy’s son Harry, 19, said: “I feel really proud to have such an inspirational mam and I'm so grateful that the town has shown her so much love and support. It speaks volumes.”

During her childhood, the former Thornhill School pupil found she could not climb stairs and was frequently out of breath, with even the smallest of tasks becoming an effort.

But hope was on the horizon when on April 13, 1986, seven months after her 18th birthday, she became the first person in the region to receive the life-saving gift of a new heart and lungs.

She had the six-hour operation at Harefield Hospital, in Middlesex, following an agonising six-month wait for a donor.

The Mail regularly charted her progress over the following years, with Mandy learning to drive and becoming a godmother and the Mail arranging for her to meet comedy duo Cannon and Ball at Middlesbrough Town Hall.

But after three or four years, her condition deteriorated and she was fighting for breath again and became wheelchair bound.

When medics found that a set of donor lungs were compatible, it is thought Mandy became the first patient to have undergone the procedure following the previous transplant. The Mail reported at the time that Mandy's first words were "I've woken up", as throughout all the trauma of her surgery, her greatest fear had been that she would never wake up.

On her 30th birthday, on September 9, 1997, she was given the best present she could ask for when doctors at Newcastle's Freemans Hospital told her she was making excellent progress.

Just three years later, her dreams of becoming a mum came true when Harry was born.

But in 2008, Mandy suffered a setback when she was told during a check-up appointment with her GP that her kidneys had failed. Plasma treatment at James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, failed to clear the problem and she was placed on dialysis in July 2008.

She was put on the donor list once more and was overjoyed to receive a phone call in May 2011 to say a suitable kidney was ready for her. She was taken in for an operation at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital on May 10 and underwent a four-hour operation the next day.

Sarah added: “She is not just a local hero but a national one. She remains positive and she will keep fighting, that is what she keeps saying. All of her family is behind her and we would like it if the town get behind her as well.

"We want well wishers to send messages of encouragement.

"Hartlepool has followed her story for a long time and Hartlepool has always come together as a town.”

Messages of support from Hartlepool, and as far away as the USA, are already appearing on social media. The call for support first went out from town man Stephen Picton who was contacted by Sarah.

Stephen had his own message for Mandy – who he described as a ‘Hartlepool hero’ – and said: “Get well soon.”

Sarah is hoping for more messages of positivity to send to Mandy.

So come on Hartlepool! Send your messages of support and positivity for Mandy who has been one of the town’s true heroes for decades.

Send them to the Hartlepool Mail’s Facebook page and to [email protected]

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