Help us get Roshan the heart surgery he urgently needs

If you’ve ever met my partner, Roshan, you’ll know he’s one of those people who just makes life lighter. He’s endlessly kind, never takes himself too seriously, and always has time for other people. He loves football, padel, his friends and our little dog, Pixie.

Roshan was born with congenital aortic stenosis, meaning the valve that lets blood leave his heart has always been much narrower than it should be. At six, he had a procedure that gave him almost eighteen years of a full, active life.

But over the past year, his condition has significantly deteriorated. He’s had to stop playing sports. A walk of a couple of kilometres leaves him exhausted, and most afternoons he has to sleep because his heart is working so hard.

Heart specialists measure the severity of Roshan’s condition by how quickly blood flows through his narrowed valve. A normal result is under 2.0 m/s. Surgeons begin recommending valve replacement at 4.0 m/s. Roshan’s latest result was 4.9 m/s, well beyond that threshold.

At this level of severity, untreated symptomatic severe aortic stenosis is associated with around a 50% mortality within two years. Time is simply not on our side.

For most people with this condition, the standard surgery is a mechanical heart valve requiring lifelong blood thinners. Because Roshan also has chronic primary ITP (a condition that means his blood doesn’t clot properly) his medical team recommended against this option due to the lifelong, increased risk of serious bleeding.

Instead, his surgeon recommended a Ross Procedure, a highly specialised operation that gives Roshan the best chance of living a long, healthy and active life.

Although the NHS offers the Ross Procedure, the waiting list is currently nine to twelve months.

Due to the severity of his condition, Roshan’s surgeon told us that, in an ideal world, he should have surgery within a month.

Roshan’s heart has already thickened from the strain of pumping blood through his narrowed valve, causing permanent damage. Until his valve is replaced, his heart remains under the same strain. Surgery can prevent further damage, but it can’t undo what’s already happened, which is why every month matters.

We completely understand the pressures that the NHS is under. But when you’re told the person you love should ideally have heart surgery within a month, waiting up to a year simply doesn’t feel like a risk you can take.

The hospital requires a £60,000 deposit before surgery can go ahead. Once the surgeon’s fees, hospital care and any time spent in intensive care are included, we expect the total cost to be over £75,000.

Asking for help doesn’t come naturally to us, but this isn’t something we can do on our own.

Whether you know Roshan, know our families, or have simply come across our story, every donation, no matter how small, brings him one step closer to the surgery he urgently needs.

More than anything, I just want to see Roshan being Roshan again: Back on a football pitch. Back playing padel with his friends. Taking Pixie on long walks. Having the energy that every 24-year-old deserves.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story, for sharing it if you can, and for helping us give Roshan that chance