'First our kids had heart transplants - then my husband suddenly collapsed'
18.09.2022 - 10:53
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
It was a normal Saturday afternoon when the peace of Emma Hall’s home was broken by a blood-curdling shriek. She had been watching TV with her husband Malcolm when she noticed him slumped over on the sofa. Just an hour later, he was dead.
Emma’s screams alerted her teenage son to the nightmare unfolding in the living room. He watched on in horror as she frantically dialled 999. Malcolm, 52, was rushed to hospital but it was too late. The father-of-two was gone.
“It was so out of the blue and such a shock that even now I don’t know how much I’ve processed myself,” Emma, from Bredbury, Stockport, told the Manchester Evening News .
“Poor James heard me screaming on the phone and walked in on it. I think that’s something he will never get out of his mind.
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“I’ve never been a single mother. Me and Malcolm would have been married 17 years this year. I was only 19 when I met him – it was all I’ve ever known.”
Malcolm passed away from a heart attack in March 2019. The tragedy came within one year of his children – James and Elizabeth – both having heart transplants. Care worker Emma believes he was suffering from stress over their ill-health.
James was just 12-years-old when he underwent the major operation. Emma first noticed something was wrong with him when he developed a rash as a baby.
Scans revealed the left-side of his heart was extremely enlarged. Following tests, he was later diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a type of heart muscle disease which causes the heart chambers to grow larger. He remained stable on medication until he reached the age of 12, when he began feeling lethargic and