Glasgow mother who received heart transplant reveals how her daughter used Amazon Alexa for help

It is normally used to help play music or sort the shopping list.

But a mother who received a heart transplant has told 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 correctly and Ms Anderson received a life-saving heart transplant last year at the NHS Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank.

Ms Anderson, 27, of Robroyston, Glasgow, told her six-year-old daughter Darcey from a young age that her mum had a ‘sore heart’, and taught her what to do if she became ill at home.

Darcy twice saved her mum’s life using the Alexa home assistant service to call the emergency services

Darcey, now six, knows to stay calm and has been able to raise the alarm on two occasions.

Ms Anderson said: ‘We told Darcey that mummy had a sore heart so she’s always known I’ve had heart problems. I set up the Alexa so that if I passed out or was feeling unwell all she had to do was say, “Alexa, call help”, and that would call my mum who lives around the corner.

‘And she’s had to call on Alexa a couple of times – she even called an ambulance on her own and that time I was in a really bad way. I’m so proud of her, she is a wee superstar.’

When first diagnosed, 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 have a totally new life now.

‘Over Easter, I managed to take Darcey swimming and to the play park, the farm park. Simple things I wasn’t able to do before, I can do now. I’m able to be a mummy now.’

She added: ‘Getting a transplant is a very hard road. I was on life support and all sorts of other treatments after my operation for a long while, and my muscles deteriorated so much I couldn’t walk any more.

When first diagnosed, Ms Anderson had an internal defibrillator implanted in her chest

‘The only thing I seemed to care about once I was better was learning to walk again so I could walk down that aisle and get married.’

Ms Anderson has appeared in a music video by Scots chart star Tom Walker. While recovering in hospital, she created a TikTok video using Walker’s song, The Best Is Yet To Come.

The singer was so touched that he invited her to London to appear in a video featuring people who had inspired him.

She said: ‘I definitely think the best is yet to come for me thanks to my organ donor.’

The chief executive of NHS Golden Jubilee, Gordon James, said: ‘Emma’s inspiring story shows us how valuable and crucial the life-saving care the NHS provides is to our patients.’