Jodie Higgins said the loss of her legs is heartbreaking but she ‘feels amazing’ with her new heart
Jodie Higgins was diagnosed with a serious heart defect 10 years ago(Image: Andy Teebay)
A Liverpool mum spent 10 years “living in constant fear” as a serious genetic defect gradually ate away at her heart, and just as she was offered a second chance at life a second tragedy struck. Jodie Higgins, from West Derby, was diagnosed with a serious heart problem after she collapsed in the gym in 2015.
She was put on the waiting list for a heart transplant as the deadly, progressive condition slowly took hold. Jodie received an implantable defibrillator to restore her irregular heartbeat. But eventually her condition deteriorated to the point she fell into “complete heart failure”.
She was admitted to Wythenshawe Hospital in October last year as she was bumped up the waiting list.
Jodie said: “It’s a progressive condition, so as you get older it gets worse. I was diagnosed in 2015, and by December 2024 I had a really bad episode. By then I was in complete heart failure.
“It was in the April of last year 2025 that they said I qualified to go on the transplant list, and on the 2nd of June I was put on the routine list, which meant I was waiting for a donor. Over a couple of months, they saw my heart was getting really bad. By October I was called into the hospital and put on the ‘urgent’ list.”
It was another month before a heart became available and Jodie, 34, was told to prepare for surgery.
She said: “They woke me up at 6am and said they had a donor for me. It was like a surreal experience. I had to wait something like 12 hours before surgery, and sometimes the donor heart might not be viable. So you just have to wait.
“Luckily the donor heart was viable and I was able to go down, but it was a very nerve-wracking wait. I was scared because it was a massive surgery and you don’t know if you’re ever going to wake up again. It was absolutely petrifying. I’d had surgeries in the past, but nothing like this.”
Unfortunately for Jodie, her fears were realised when the donor heart failed to start beating, and she was plunged into a coma for three and a half weeks. During this time the teaching assistant developed sepsis, resulting in necrosis to both her feet and the index finger and thumb on her left hand.
She said: “I was basically being kept alive by a machine. In the first week I suffered multiple organ failure and sepsis. When I finally woke up after three and a half weeks I was still out of it, and the only words can remember were ‘you’re going to lose your legs’.
“I couldn’t grasp what they were talking about at the start because I was still sedated, so I was really confused. It was only a couple of days later when I was more alert that my family told me, and the surgeons came and spoke to me again.
“They showed me my feet and they were black and just necrotic. My index finger and my thumb on my left hand were the same.”
Jodie with her partner Karl and son Koa(Image: Andy Teebay)
After undergoing the heart transplant in November 2025, Jodie, a mum of one, had further surgery to amputate both her legs below the knee in January.
She now uses a wheelchair to get around, but is going through rehabilitation to build up her strength, and is due to receive new prosthetic limbs next month.
Despite her shocking loss, she said: “It’s crazy, because I feel absolutely amazing with my new heart. Before I was so ill all the time. I woke up every day so scared because of how bad my heart was. I didn’t know if I would make it through the day. It was the worst way of living. For 10 years I lived in constant fear.
“Now I get up every day so happy. Don’t get me wrong, the thing with my legs is heart-breaking and I do struggle with that, but I’m here. My family at one point were told I wouldn’t make it through the night. It was just a case of my body pulling through and luckily I did. Now I’m so grateful to just be alive.”
Jodie said she is now looking forward to spending quality time with her partner Karl and two-year-old son, Koa, which she was not able to do when she was living with heart failure.
She is also looking to a change in career, as she is required to take immune suppressant medication to ensure her body does not reject her new heart – meaning she is more vulnerable to infections.
Jodie Higgins with her son Koa(Image: Andy Teebay)
She said: “My first plan is to get back on my feet and be able to do mum stuff with my son that I haven’t been able to do since he was born.
“I’ve signed up to do a Manchester 10k at the end of May this year for the British Heart Foundation. I won’t be fully on my feet, I’ll still be in my wheelchair for a lot of it, but I’m going to aim for walking over the finish line. It’s definitely going to be a challenge, but I don’t mind a challenge.”