This Morning’s Alison Hammond is thankful her niece Jasmine is alive.
The star’s family were terrified when the little girl almost died after suffering a heart attack in 2011.
Jasmine was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease when she was three years old and was left fighting for her life after she collapsed at school nine years later.
The bubbly Brummie said her niece had always been “poorly”, but nothing could have prepared her for what was to come.
Life-threatening emergency
Doctors had warned the family that Jasmine might need open-heart surgery.
She was struggling to walk properly and suffering from heart palpitations.
Her condition had also left giant aneurysms on her arteries and she lost the use of her left arm.
Sadly Jasmine’s health continued to deteriorate and she suffered a heart attack.
Filled with fear, her family decided the best option was to put the little girl on life support while doctors tried to keep her heart going.
Desperate for a donor
“She was the sickest girl in the UK at that point,” Alison told the Mirror in 2012, “so she went straight to the top of the list to get a new heart.”
Thankfully Jasmine received a transplant, which was carried out at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
After a shaky start, Alison’s niece began to recover.
The Big Brother star was working on This Morning at the time and said she would visit her niece, often staying overnight at the hospital.
Read more: Alison Hammond on insecurity over her health condition
‘Transforming lives’
The family were incredibly grateful to have received the donation, but Alison pointed out there was a lack of donors in the Black and Asian community.
She strongly advised anyone thinking about becoming a donor to register.
She said: “I have put myself on the organ donor list, as have my family.
“I know it’s difficult for relatives to feel giving and kind when their loved ones die, but I have seen first hand how organ donation can save and transform lives.
“The alternative, not having had this happen, doesn’t bear thinking about. We’re so lucky to have Jasmine still with us.”
This Morning is on ITV at 10am weekdays.
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