A lovely nurse helped me to sit up and gave me some corn flakes. They were warm!
Anne-Marie
I woke up lying on my front with pain searing through my back.
Wondering where I was and shedding a few tears, I tried to turn over but found it difficult to move. Then I remembered. I was in hospital. A doctor had cut me open and mended my heart! A lovely nurse helped me to sit up and gave me some corn flakes. They were warm! I was 4 years old.
The next few days were regulated by the hospital routines and the chiming of the nearby Town Hall clock, on the hour, every hour as I was a patient in Leeds General Infirmary.
This operation to close a hole in my heart, not long after the inauguration of the National Health Service, saved my life.