Support for Danny Grimshaw during his stay in hospital

Marathon-runner, gym-goer Danny never thought that he’d be victim to a heart condition. At the age of forty-one, his life was flipped upside down with a life-altering diagnosis that required him to undergo a triple heart bypass. Wythenshawe Hospital’s doctors and nurses on the Coronary Care Unit went above and beyond for Danny, providing the highest level of care from the day of his diagnosis to the day he went back home to his family.

Danny was enjoying a holiday in sunny Majorca with his wife and son when he began to feel a pain in his chest. The pain persisted throughout his flight back to Manchester, so Danny visited Trafford general hospital shortly after landing. After undergoing a blood test, Danny was whisked off to Wythenshawe Hospital in an ambulance.

There, Danny received some unfathomable news. An angiogram revealed that all three of his arteries were 95% blocked, and he would require a triple bypass on his heart.

His diagnosis devastated Danny and his family. Danny had spent most of his adult years frequenting the gym and running marathons, so a coronary condition was the last thing that he and his family expected.

“The angiogram was horrific, if I’m honest. I saw the dye stay away from my heart, and then the consultant turned round and just said, ‘I’m really sorry, all your arteries are 95% blocked.’ It felt like a bomb had been dropped on me.”

Danny was immediately transferred to Wythenshawe’s Coronary Care Unit and stayed on the ward for a week before his operation. There, he was looked after by an expert team of nurses who consistently went above and beyond for Danny.

“On that ward there were instrumental people who made it the best experience it could possibly be, and there were a couple of nurses who were, I think, incredible.”

“I got to know one student nurse, who would come into my room evert day just to have a chat. On the day I walked to my surgery, she walked down with me. It’s those little things that really make the biggest difference when you’re in there away from your family.”

Funds raised by our Charity have provided state-of-the-art equipment, brand new facilities and exceptional training for our staff team. We work with wards like Wythenshawe’s Coronary Care Unit to help provide the highest standard of treatment to patients like Danny, who need our care in incredibly difficult moments.

After his surgery, Danny recovered quickly and went straight home. The sadness, stress and upset caused by his diagnosis and his surgery gave him a new perspective on life.

“It has definitely made me want to live in the moment and has made me realise what is important. Work just pays the bills now. Come five o’clock, I’m logging off because my family is more important. There’s that saying- you never know what you have, until you’ve nearly lost it.”

Since returning home, Danny donates monthly to Manchester Foundation Trust Charity to give back to the incredible team at Wythenshawe’s Coronary Care Unit. If you’d like to set up a regular donation to support the incredible, life-saving work that we do, please click here.