Golden Heart

Paul and Emma Johnson's 8-year-old son, Max, was a normal, healthy, fun-loving child. December 8th, 2016, changed all that forever; he was rushed to hospital and it was found that he had an enlarged heart. Max was suffering from heart failure and diagnosed with a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. His heart had become so large that it was no longer able to pump the blood around his body effectively. In the bleak medical terminology with which the Johnson family were to become all-too familiar over the coming days and months, they were told that their son had a 33 per cent chance of getting better, a 33 per cent chance of requiring a heart transplant and a 33 per cent chance of passing away. In what felt like the blink of an eye, their world was turned upside down. At the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Max was placed on the urgent list for a heart transplant. This book follows the ups, downs, twists and turns of this tumultuous journey, the pain of waiting for an organ, of seeing other children not make it, and The Mirror newspaper's 'Change the Law for Life' campaign - for which Max became the poster boy. It recounts how it felt to finally 'get the call'. The book also covers the relationship the Johnson family have built with Max's donor family, with whom they have developed a close bond. Two families from opposite ends of the country intertwined through tragedy and fate.