Cardiff GP made history after multiple organ transplants

Cystic fibrosis patient Allison Angell made medical history when she became the first person in the UK to have all her major organs transplanted.

By the time she had reached the midway point of university, the Cardiff resident had received a new liver, heart, lungs and kidney after hers were damaged by her incurable condition.

Despite her decades of ill-health, she miraculously managed to complete medical school, qualify as a GP, and now helps others overcome their own medical problems.

Allison, who is originally from Fishguard in Pembrokeshire, said her health troubles first began when she was just seven.

She discovered she was one of the 10% of cystic fibrosis patients who also has liver disease.

In 1997, at the age of 19, Allison underwent a heart and lung transplant at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge.

Allison said her healthy heart was transplanted into David Hamilton, a man from Maidstone in Kent whom she ended up having a meal with just a fortnight after their procedures.

Following the successful procedure Allison was well enough to start a neuroscience degree at Cardiff University.

But during her fourth year she was devastated to discover she had been diagnosed with kidney failure, forcing her to take three years off.

Now working as a GP in Tonypandy, Rhondda, Allison said she was delighted to be able to give something back to the NHS.