A mum-of-two has spent the past year of her life living in a hospital as she waits for a life-saving operation.
Jenna Williams, from Wales, is being kept alive my machines at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and is in need of a new heart.
The 38-year-old, who is originally from the town of Bargoed, can only see her two daughters and wife Nicola Williams for a few hours once a week.
Jenna's health hasn't been great for a while, with the Wales woman first undergoing a heart transplant back in 2006, just a month after she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and added to the donor list.
She had first fallen ill in 2005, aged 20, and feeling out of breath easily and collapsing while walking home one day, Wales Online reports.
On multiple occasions there has been a time a heart is available, but each opportunity fell at the final hurdle.
Now, her sister Kirsty Silcox and family have opened up about the agonising wait for Jenna health to improve.
She said: "The thing is, we know our fortune can only come from someone else's misfortune. We understand the impact that is going to have on another family. It is hard."
Jenna's doctors advised that her and her family underwent screening for the condition and it was revealed Jenna's dad, Kevin Silcox, had the same condition. His wasn't as severe and could be treated with medication.
Despite being told she wouldn't have children, Jenna fell pregnant and had her daughter Angel in 2010, who was also checked for the hereditary condition at the age of one - she was given the all clear, however has since developed the condition and is on medication.
Jenna had a second daughter in 2012, Iliana, who has also been tested for the condition too.
The mum-of-two admitted she had "never been so scared" after hearing she might only have a year to live.
She said: "After two weeks, I was given a pacemaker, but the following week I was sent home to recover with a box of medication. My recovery was perfect, I bounced back to the fit 21-year-old I was and returned to work as a teaching assistant after just five months. Life was good. I had regular check ups and everything always looked good."
However, in 2019, Jenna started experiencing chest pains, dizzy spells and palpitations.
Jenna said: "I was back and forth into hospital, being admitted for numerous angiograms which resulted in my having stents and balloons.
"I then started to get out of breath walking just like before and put on a lot of weight, which I later found out was fluid.
"I was tired constantly and had no energy. I phone the transplant team who told me to attend clinic on March 28, 2022. I attended and had a right heart catheter and biopsy.
"After getting my results I was told I needed to be admitted as soon as possible as I was in heart failure again.
"My heart was deteriorating. I was assessed for a second heart transplant at the hospital where I'm now waiting for the call. I am now on the urgent list which means I can not go home as I'm on strong medication that's basically keeping me alive.
I'm away from my two daughters, parents, wife, sister, nephew and my friends. It is a very hard journey being away from my kids which is unbearable. My heart is breaking not seeing them every day. I've missed out on so much being in here with the children and I pray I have a heart soon."
Now, a year on from her admission, Jenna is still waiting for the life-saving surgery.
Kirsty, her sister, added: “We have had four phone calls now where we have all rushed up, and the last test where the consultant surgeons travel to where the donor heart is, every time they have done that, its been a case of it is no, it is not good. On one occasion she was gowned up.
“We have had to be prepared as it is a second heart transplant, that comes with more complications. The surgery would take around 18 hours and the recovery will take a lot longer. We have to be prepared there could be a lot of complications this time.
"The first time we had the phone call there was a potential heart it broke my heart, knowing she is alive in hospital, we know it is not going to be easy when that heart comes through, there's so many things to consider. That phone call is the only thing that is going to save her."
Jenna's wife, Nicola, commented: "The past year has been a nightmare. All our lives have been flipped upside down. But Jenna is doing really good, I don't know how she has been so strong, she is keeping her head together. We are trying to get on with it as much as we can, but it is hard."
