Home / Health / Record £450k Gift Fuels Heart Transplant Research
Record £450k Gift Fuels Heart Transplant Research
15 Jan
Summary
- A record donation exceeding £450,000 was given to Royal Papworth Hospital Charity.
- The generous gift was a thank you for saving the life of the donor's brother.
- Funds will accelerate research and innovation in heart transplantation projects.
Royal Papworth Hospital Charity has received a landmark donation exceeding £453,000 from Wendy J. Tomlin-Hess. This is the largest single donation in the charity's 30-year history and was made to express gratitude for saving her brother Terry Tomlin's life in 2015 with a pioneering heart transplant. Tomlin-Hess, who now resides in the United States, described the gift as a way to thank the hospital that gave her brother a second chance at life.
The significant funds will be instrumental in advancing critical research and innovation within heart transplantation. Specifically, the donation will support three key projects: enhancing the assessment of donor hearts, prolonging the preservation time for viable donor hearts, and testing cost-effective technology for perfusion. Terry Tomlin was among the first transplant patients in Europe to receive a non-beating heart, utilizing the donation after circulatory death (DCD) method, a procedure pioneered by Royal Papworth.
