My wife, Carol Town, who has died aged 68, was a counsellor and therapist who managed to help many people across her lifetime, despite the difficulties she faced as the result of a disabling heart condition.
Carol was born in Upminster, Essex, to Derek Burton, a British Rail manager, and his wife, Iris (nee Joss), a solicitor’s secretary. At the age of five she was diagnosed as having a hole-in-the-heart condition, Eisenmenger’s syndrome, and her parents were told that most people with it did not survive beyond 30.
Her condition, for which there was no curative treatment at the time, meant Carol could not exert herself as other children do, so she never learned to run, play games, go on walks, or be in the cold because of circulation problems. Nevertheless, she went to Theale grammar school (now Theale Green school) in Reading, Berkshire, and then to Reading College of Technology for A-level and secretarial qualifications.
In 1973 she began work as a secretary in the NHS, while in her spare time she took up counselling as a volunteer with the Samaritans, additionally training and working as a yoga teacher.
Carol decided on a career shift in 1982, and landed a job at the Royal Berkshire hospital in Reading as a hearing therapist in the audiology unit. In the first year of that job she had to obtain a certificate in hearing therapy, and during her studies she used the medical library at the Royal Berkshire, where I was the medical librarian. We got to know each other and were married in 1983.
In 1985 Carol was referred to Papworth hospital in Cambridgeshire, and after an 18-month wait received a heart-lung transplant in 1987. This transformed her life and health, and she took up walking, climbing, swimming and riding, putting the shot in the Transplant Games and directing a £200,000 appeal for her audiology unit.
In 1995 she and I partnered with a surrogate to start a family, and our son Joss was born in 1995. Carol left her job at the audiology unit in 1997 to look after Joss, but around that time her kidneys began to fail, and she went on dialysis for 10 years before receiving a kidney transplant in 2005. With Joss at school, Carol restarted her career as a psychosexual therapist for Relate.
Carol was loved by her clients, colleagues and friends for her smile, empathy and inspirational outlook on life. Despite the trials she faced with her health, she was full of fun and loved life, taking much solace from nature and wildlife in the garden and keeping in touch with the world by reading the Guardian.
She is survived by me, Joss, and her siblings, Lesley and Jonathan.
