Parents tell of Jasmine Page's transplant ordeal

?The parents of Black Country heart transplant girl Jasmine Page, aged 12, have spoken of their 'nightmare' as their daughter's life hung by a thread for more than a week.

And Andy and Saundra Page today expressed their gratitude to the family of the heart donor.

They have also thanked staff at her school for keeping her alive when she collapsed, and praised paramedics and the doctors and nurses at Birmingham's Children's Hospital.

Jasmine, a pupil at Windsor High School, Halesowen, has bravely fought illness for most of her life, after being diagnosed at the age of three with the serious and complex Kawasaki Disease, which weakened the walls of the arteries in her heart.

"She's a trooper and a fighter," said her mother, aged 44, who is a probation officer in Halesowen.

After attending two lessons, she collapsed with a heart attack.

A teacher caught her and gently lowered her to the floor, as a secretary and several other members of the administrative staff, who had first aid training, began heart massage.

They kept her alive for four minutes until the ambulance crew arrived to take over and she was then rushed under police escort to Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital.

She was soon transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital, where she underwent the heart transplant. "It's been a nightmare," said Jasmine's father, Andy, a 45-year-old IT manager. "If it hadn't been for the staff at the school she wouldn't have made it past those first four minutes.

"During last week it was suggested that Jasmine would travel to Great Ormond Street Hospital for a heart transplant. But then it was decided that it would be safer to carry out the transplant in Birmingham and the Great Ormond Street team came up here. There was great cooperation and they made an amazing team effort.

"We're also very grateful to the family of the heart donor." Mrs Page, whose sister is TV presenter Alison Hammond, said: "It's been a roller-coaster for us — but I've still got a daughter.

"Jasmine now has two birthdays — the day she was born and now when she had the transplant."