Fighter Hannah dies as she plans dream wedding

Hannah Pudsey, 24, who won admiration for her determination to live as normal a life as possible after her life-saving surgery, was busy planning her dream wedding in July, when she died last week.

A service of thanksgiving will take place at Nafferton Parish Church on Saturday, where she was due to wed fiance Kevin Preston.

Her mother Ros, who lives with husband David in Nafferton, near Driffield, said she would treasure a picture of Hannah trying on her wedding dress.

“Her greatest love was Kevin,” she added. “They have been together about four years, she knew him at school. He was really good with her.

“The wedding was all planned. We had a wedding list of about 100 to sit down, plus more on the night. She’s booked a band which had played at her 21st and she has just been with the girls and ordered bridesmaids dresses. Her own dress will be here next week.

“She wanted the works.”

Hannah was born with two holes in her heart which also had a faulty valve. When she was 13, she was given just six months to live without the vital surgery, finally receiving her new heart at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital in 2001, after three false alarms.

She went on to spearhead a campaign for people to carry donor cards, which led to 25,000 people in the East Riding joining the national donor register.

Milestones in her life were marked by newspaper and TV appearances, which helped spread the word about the plight of the hundreds of people waiting for donors for their own life-saving operations.

Her death at Hull Royal Infirmary last week was unexpected and her family have still to find out the cause of death.

Hannah became ill last summer, and spent several weeks in hospital, at one stage suffering from dehydration when her kidneys failed.

Her father said: “She got over all that, she seemed to be all right. Gradually since Christmas she has gone downhill.”

Mrs Pudsey drove her to an interview last Monday for a job as a carer at St Anne’s Special school at Welton, where she did supply work. But just two days later she was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary by ambulance.

“I was with her when she collapsed in hospital and she just deteriorated in the afternoon,” Mrs Pudsey said. “Even when she collapsed they weren’t expecting it at that stage, it was such a shock for the staff as well.”

Both said Hannah, who shared a home in Driffield with her fiancée, just wanted to be normal, but had struggled to get a permanent job.

Mr Pudsey, who runs a coal merchant’s business in the village, said: “Because of her problems people were a bit wary of giving her a job, but people have given her jobs and most of those she worked for have been very pleased with her work. She wouldn’t miss a day.

“She packed a lot more in than most people will have done in 24 years.

“She never grumbled about her illness, she never bothered about it and wouldn’t let it bother her. She has lived life to the full.”

He added: “She always helped people.

“People said: ‘Wasn’t she brave?’ But I never thought of it being brave; when she had the transplant it was something she had to do to keep her alive.

“She worked quite a lot with people who were physically and learning disabled and she seemed to cope with that quite easily, because she understood them.”

Mrs Pudsey said she and Hannah recently discussed second heart transplants but Hannah was worried she may be depriving those still waiting for their first.

“She said: ‘You know Mum, if I needed another one, wouldn’t it be fairer if they had a chance first, because I’ve had a chance of life and they haven’t.’

“How many other young people would have thought about it like that?”

The service which starts at 1pm will be conducted by the Rev Jean Artley. It will have the hymns which Hannah had chosen for the wedding, including the children’s song If I were a butterfly which has the chorus ‘For you gave me a heart and you gave me a smile’.

Donations will be shared between the church and Martin House Children’s Hospice, at Boston Spa.