She is the only reason this little girl is alive today (the new paper)
RUSH HOUR ANGEL
December 27, 2007
HE wasn't carrying a patient, but his cargo was no less important. It was a heart that would save the life of a 3-year-old girl - if he could get it to her on time.
Laura with mum Julia Whitworth. -- Pictures: WORLDWIDE FEATURES
The driver faced a tight deadline to cut through morning rush hour traffic before it was too late to use the organ.
But he was less than 13km from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London when things went wrong.
After swerving to avoid a car that pulled out in front of him, he crashed into a kerb and burst two tyres.
Repairing the damage was out of the question, and there was no time to call a back-up ambulance.
With time ticking and traffic creeping, the driver flagged down the first car he saw.
Mrs Margaret Rollinson, 57, was on her way to work when she saw the man waving frantically.
'I was just driving to work and I could hear the ambulance siren, then I saw it at the side of the road,' recalled the personal assistant.
'The driver flagged me down and he asked me to take him to the nearest police station.
'He reached inside the ambulance and brought out a box which he put on my back seat.
'Then the driver said that he didn't want to panic me, but in the box was a heart which was needed for a transplant, so could I drive quickly.'
Laura thanks Mrs Rollinson for saving her life with a bouquet and a smile.
At Great Ormond Street, little Laura Whitworth was lying on the operating table with her own heart taken out.
She had been waiting desperately for a life-saving heart transplant for three weeks.
Laura was diagnosed with an enlarged heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy in July last year. The condition causes the muscles in her heart to become weak, making it unable to pump blood efficiently.
TURN FOR WORSE
Laura's condition worsened over the next 12 months and in July this year she was rushed by helicopter to the hospital where she was put on an artifical heart machine called a Berlin Heart to keep her alive whilst waiting for a transplant.
By the time a donor heart was found, Laura had reached a point of no return. Without the heart, she would surely die.
She was fighting for her life as the heart was flown to Luton airport, and an emergency ambulance unit was sent to fetch it.
And then it crashed.
Mrs Rollinson recalled the harrowing drive to the nearest police station.
'I didn't panic, I just drove as fast as I could with Laura's heart, through the traffic. For the first time in my life, I drove through a red light - and I also drove briefly on the wrong side of the road.'
When they reached the police station about 1.6km away, the heart was then taken by police escort down to Great Ormond Street where the five-hour operation went without a hitch.
Mrs Rollinson added: 'After we had safely delivered the heart, I had to go into a side road and catch my breath.
'You never know what's going to happen when you get out of bed in a morning. I never imagined when I drove to work that morning, that I would be involved in delivering a new heart to a little girl.'
And Laura's parents could not be more grateful.
Her father, Mr Andy Whitworth, 38, a builder, who lives with wife Julia, 31, and their elder daughter Lucie, 4, said: 'If Mrs Rollinson hadn't driven the driver with Laura's heart to the police station when she did, Laura wouldn't have been here today.
'She had been taken down to the operating theatre and her own heart had been removed, and as the doctors told us, it was the point of no return.
'If the heart hadn't arrived when it did, we would have lost her. We just can't thank Mrs Rollinson enough for what she did. Our family call her our 'guardian angel'. She helped save Laura's life.'
Little Laura has made a miraculous recovery and even gone back to school in October.
Mrs Rollinson sent her a get well card, and last week she came face to face with the little girl whose life she helped to save.
Said Mrs Rollinson: 'It was wonderful to meet Laura and see how well she is doing. She looked so healthy and full of life - it was great to see.'
Mr Whitworth added: 'It was very emotional to meet Mrs Rollinson and Laura gave her a bunch of flowers to say thank you. If it hadn't been for her, Laura may not have been here today.'