Chris's new heart and lungs

Hi my name is Chris Richards. I’m 41 and from Hereford. my journey began on November 9th, 1983, the day I was born with a congenital heart condition known as Transposition of the Great Arteries.

At just 16 months old, I underwent major heart surgery that saved my life and gave me the chance to grow up, live, and thrive, even if under a different definition of “normal.” That operation gave me time. Time to go to school, laugh with friends, fall in love, and build a life—though always with regular check-ups and the quiet awareness that my heart wasn’t like everyone else’s. Fast forward to 2025 and I’m currently living in the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham awaiting a heart and lung transplant. 4 months I have been here so far and living over an hour away means I only get to see my family once a week and mainly that is in the weekends due to work commitments and school. The reason behind this page is to try and ease the pressure on myself and my family with travel and accommodation costs , food costs , plus also day to day life. I have even had to go back to working remotely from the hospital to make sure we have enough money coming in to pay the bills as we are unable to claim any help.

thank you for taking the time to read this and any help is appreciated even though this has been the hardest thing to do, as we like to do everything ourselves.