Glasgow mother who received heart transplant reveals how her daughter used Amazon Alexa for help
How Amazon’s Alexa saved my life… TWICE: Heart transplant mom reveals how her daughter, 6, used the AI ββhome assistant to call 999 and her neighbors for help when she got sick at home
- Emma Anderson was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as a teenager
- Ms Anderson received a life-saving heart transplant last year thanks to the NHS
- Fortunately, her six-year-old daughter was able to save her life with Amazon’s Alexa
It is normally used to play music or sort the shopping list.
But a mother who has had a heart transplant has shared how her daughter twice saved her life using the Alexa Home Assistant service.
Emma Anderson was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy just before she turned 16.
The disease makes the heart muscle too thick to function properly and Ms Anderson received a life-saving heart transplant at the NHS Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank last year.
Ms Anderson, 27, from Robroyston, Glasgow, told her six-year-old daughter Darcey from an early age that her mother had an ‘aching heart’ and taught her what to do if she got sick at home.
In the photo, Emma Anderson surprised her daughter Darcy when she came home from the hospital
Darcy has twice saved her mother’s life by using the Alexa Home Assistant service to call emergency services
Darcey, now six, knows how to stay calm and has been able to raise the alarm twice.
Mrs Anderson said: ‘We told Darcey that Mum had a painful heart, so she’s always known I have heart problems. I set up the Alexa so that if I passed out or felt unwell, all she had to do was say, “Alexa, call help,” and that would call my mom who lives around the corner.
βAnd she’s had to call Alexa a few times β she even called an ambulance on her own and I was in really bad shape that time. I’m so proud of her, she’s a little superstar.’
At the time of initial diagnosis, Ms. Anderson had an internal defibrillator implanted in her chest. She said the heart transplant had been transformative and she was able to marry her partner Conner in July last year.
Ms Anderson said: ‘Since my transplant I now have a completely new life.
‘At Easter I managed to take Darcey to the pool and to the play park, the farm park. Simple things that I couldn’t do before, I can do now. I can be a mummy now.’
She added: ‘Getting a transplant is a very difficult road. After my surgery I was on a ventilator and all kinds of other treatments for a long time, and my muscles deteriorated so much that I couldn’t walk anymore.
At the time of initial diagnosis, Ms. Anderson had an internal defibrillator implanted in her chest
“The only thing I seemed to care about more once I got better was learning to walk again so I could walk down that aisle and get married.”
Ms. Anderson has appeared in a music video for Scottish chart topper Tom Walker. While recovering in the hospital, she made a TikTok video featuring Walker’s song, The Best Is Yet To Come.
The singer was so moved that he invited her to London to appear in a video with people who inspired him.
She said, “I definitely think the best is yet to come for me thanks to my organ donor.”
NHS Golden Jubilee managing director Gordon James said: ‘Emma’s inspiring story shows us just how valuable and crucial the life-saving care the NHS provides to our patients is.’