A footballer who needed a transplant after he “died” twice during heart surgery proposed to his girlfriend before his op – “in case his new heart didn’t love her”.
Brooklyn Peakman, 20, had a stroke that left him technically dead for 17 minutes and ended up in a coma when his original valve surgery went wrong.
The talented goalie’s family were told he was unlikely to recover. He beat the odds but, after coming out of the coma at Christmas, was warned he needed an urgent heart transplant.
Girlfriend Ellie Spencer, 18, had been living with Brooklyn and his mum Kelly throughout lockdown.
He said: “After they told me I needed a new heart, I told Ellie we’d better get engaged – just in case my new heart didn’t love her.
“It turns out my new heart loves her as much as the old one.
“I can’t wait to see her walk down the aisle and call her my wife. It’ll be a day I didn’t think I’d get to see.”
Brooklyn, who played for Prestatyn Town in north Wales, had a heart defect at birth and had two operations within a day of being born.
His heart’s two main blood vessels were the wrong way round, sending blood flowing in the wrong directions.
In the weeks before getting a new organ last month at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, he had the agony of two aborted lifesaving operations.
The first was called off four hours in, with Brooklyn’s chest already cut open, when the donor heart started to fail.
Doctors cancelled a second one at the theatre doors because the donor organ was ruled a poor match.
Brooklyn finally had a successful op on St Patrick’s Day – and has nicknamed his new organ “Paddy”.
He proposed to Ellie, who he met at school, before being wheeled down for his first transplant attempt. She said: “He smiled when I said yes, I think it relaxed him. He was quite anxious after coming so close to death.
“I wanted him to go down for his transplant knowing how much I loved him. My focus for now is getting him fully recovered.”
Kelly, also mum to Harrison, 15, and Maggie May, 18, said: “I gasped when the doctors said they might have to switch off life-support.
“They could see so much damage they couldn’t see how he could survive.
“We went through a see-saw of emotions, worried he might decline and be taken off the transplant list.”
His operation means Brooklyn will not be able to play football again.
But he still harbours ambitions of being a coach.
He said: “It’s a blow, but I’ve got a new heart. It means I’ll be able to do lots I couldn’t before my op.”
