Transplant girl comes face-to-face with own heart

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Arriving at an art gallery, Jennifer Sutton was faced with the organ removed from her body in a transplant operation just three months ago.

With the scar from the surgery still clearly visible on her chest, the 23-year-old science graduate posed for photographs beside her old, diseased heart, which has been preserved in a jar.

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Jennifer Sutton's first reaction was 'yuk' when she saw the organ that nearly killed her.

"My first reaction when I saw it was, 'yuk!'," she said.

"But I was really curious and excited to see it.

"It was slightly surreal but amazing at the same time to see the object that has caused me such pain and anguish."

Miss Sutton was 19 when she was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, a genetic condition which killed her mother, Sally, when her daughter was 13.

The condition causes the heart muscle to stiffen so that it cannot relax properly between beats.

"I was always breathless and struggled to walk up hills," said Miss Sutton, from Ringwood, Hampshire.

"But then I couldn't even walk on the flat for more than 50 yards and I was having a lot of palpitations."

In April this year she was told she needed a transplant and fortunately a donor was found quickly. The operation took place at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge in June.

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Heart for art's sake: Miss Sutton's organ on display

Soon afterwards, Miss Sutton was approached by the Wellcome Collection, a £30million gallery in London which opened this summer with The Heart, an exhibition exploring the historical significance of the human heart in art, literature and medicine.

She was happy to oblige with the permission of doctors, who normally incinerate organs soon after an operation.

Miss Sutton added: "I feel amazing. I can't remember feeling healthy before, but within three or four days of the operation I was feeling great. I am eternally indebted to the donor and their family and I would like to meet them one day to say thank you."

The exhibition runs until September 16.