Nicola shows how to Look Beyond the Heart

The club held a charity fund-raiser at the Cooden Beach Golf Club on Friday (February 19) in which 100 Rotarians attended to hear the story of Nicola Langlands, who was only given six months to live when she was born with half a heart.

She was the 12th child in the UK to have the double transplant, which she was given at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex.

The mother, who lives in Pevensey Bay and has an 11-year-old daughter called Megan, set up the website and charity www.lookbeyondtheheart.com for adults and children who have had a transplant, to help them deal with issues that may pop up following their operation and make new friends.

Her charity provides counselling, art therapy, physical therapy and equipment for transplant patients.

Mrs Langlands' brother Alex, an archaeologist and historian and star of the TV series Victorian Farm, entertained the audience at Friday's function with an illustrated presentation detailing life on a farm in the Victorian era.

The mother, who went to both Little Common and Ninfield Schools, said: "On September 17, 1989 I was blessed with the gift of life and was given a new heart and lungs. At the time of my transplant I was the 12th child in the UK to have one, and it gave me a new lease of life.

"It was in 1998 on July 11 that I was second blessed with a beautiful baby girl. Megan was the first baby to be born naturally by a transplant patient in the UK.

"Even though I have been blessed with the two most wonderful gifts in the world, I have found it both a physical and mental a strain on my body and inner soul.

"I also found that there were lots of other transplant patients who were going thought the same things as me.

"Because we found there was a lack of aftercare support for adults and children who have had a transplant I decided in July 2008 to set up Look Beyond The Heart.

"The aim of this charity is to raise as much money as possible to support the aftercare needs of transplant recipients and their families.

"Last October I did a talk to Senlac Rotary Club, and members were so inspired by my story that the club offered to hold a fund-raising evening for Look Beyond the Heart.

"Last Friday's event was a great success and I would like to say a great big thank you to Stuart Earl, Peter Stiles, my brother Alex and Senlac Rotary Club, but most of all to all the kind people who came along on this wonderful evening. I could not have raised this kind of money without their help.

"I think the residents in Bexhill should know that there are some lovely kind people out there in the town, that are doing so much good to help others like me."