News Item: Phil Young

BUILDER Phil Young is celebrating a very special anniversary today – it is exactly one year since he was operated on at St Bartholomew’s hospital and given a new heart. Mr. Young, 47, of Tottenham, is now so full of energy that he is training to play in a charity football match to raise money for the hospital’s transplant programme. So far eleven people have been given new hearts.

Mr. Young wants to help others like himself. In 1990 he was seriously ill with heart disease. He couldn’t work, he couldn’t climb the stairs, and he had two young sons to look after.

Now the boys are helping to train their father for the ball match. “My boss is very pleased that I am so fit again,” said Mr. Young. “I have become a real father to them again. We don’t just play football – we go jogging and swimming and play snooker together. I hope more people will help by the hospital, as I was.