A 39-year-old father from Cheshire, who was given just two years to live after suffering a heart attack, has undergone a life-saving heart transplant and now says he feels "incredibly positive" about the future.
Ellis Dawson, from Mow Cop, began to feel "funny" during a football match in January 2025. The symptom led to him being hospitalised and eventually placed on the waiting list for a new heart. In February this year, he received a transplant at Wythenshawe Hospital after a severe blockage in an artery known as the "widow-maker".
Heart attack symptoms ignored
During the football match, Ellis initially thought he could carry on and wait for the feeling to "clear up", but instead began to feel worse, experiencing symptoms he believed were a panic attack.
He said: "I walked back to my car and it became clear I was in no fit state to drive. My chest was hurting and my left arm ached a lot, so I called my dad to pick me up. When I got home I spoke to my wife about it, in my head I knew they were heart attack symptoms but I always imagined a heart attack to feel like a much more serious emergency situation."
Ellis then started being sick and used calming breathing techniques before falling asleep on the floor. His wife found him and, after reading up on the symptoms, feared he would be dead by morning. She called 111, and an ambulance took him to A&E at Royal Stoke University Hospital, where an ECG confirmed he was having a heart attack.
Two stents and a transplant
Ellis needed two stents inserted into his left anterior descending artery, which had become 95 per cent blocked. He said plaque had broken away and caused a blood clot. He later learned the artery is colloquially called "the widow-maker" because blockages there are often fatal in men.
An echocardiogram showed his heart had not healed, and a follow-up MRI six months later found no improvement. Ellis received news that he would need to meet the team at Wythenshawe Hospital's Heart and Lung Transplant Centre.
He said: "Because I was fit and healthy, albeit with a heart under significant stress, they were open to getting me on the list quickly. I still couldn't run but was functioning in terms of basic life, I was still working and being a dad. Then I got the news that on my current meds, I'd have two years to live at best, which was a massive shock."
Two-week wait for a donor heart
By December, Ellis was struggling with breathing and walking. He spent Christmas with his family, despite his deteriorating condition, but could "barely" pick up his two daughters. He went into Wythenshawe Hospital in January and had an intravenous drip that "revitalised" him, but his heart was "not happy".
Two weeks later, a heart became available. Ellis said: "I couldn't believe my luck that I'd only been waiting two weeks as the wait is usually much, much longer." He got the nod on January 31 2026, had surgery, and awoke a day later.
Two weeks after the procedure, Ellis returned home. He has since undergone what he described as a "tremendous recovery", though he must manage fatigue and avoid busy enclosed spaces due to immunosuppression.
He praised the staff at Wythenshawe Heart and Lung Centre for his "extraordinary" care. Dr Steve Shaw, Consultant Cardiologist at Wythenshawe Hospital, said: "When I first saw Ellis it was clear from his heart scans and blood work that his future prognosis was poor. I recall having those difficult conversations with him and his wife, and then bringing up the subject of transplant."
Dr Shaw added: "Thanks to the skills of our brilliant surgeons and anaesthetists, his operation went smoothly and his new heart rescued the whole situation. All the staff here have been delighted to see Ellis make a superb recovery to date."
