Cheers and tears as Walsall transplant patient leaves hospital

A man who was told by doctors there was no hope after he suffered a stroke has returned to his family in a Rolls-Royce after a successful heart transplant.

Brooklyn Peakman was on life support after 17 minutes with no oxygen to his brain when valve replacement surgery in December "didn't go to plan".

His family said doctors feared the worst, but he had a new heart in March.

Mr Peakman returned to his grandfather's home in Walsall to cheers, hugs and tears.

Still recovering from his six months in hospital, the 20-year-old said it was "brilliant" to be home and thanked his family as "they have been there for me all the way".

His mother Kelly Northall said she and the family had been on "an absolutely amazing rollercoaster".

She added she wanted her son to return from hospital in style, saying "if it [a Rolls Royce] is fit enough for the Queen, it is fit enough for him."

Friends and family gathered on Thursday at his grandfather's house, which had been decorated with balloons.

Brooklyn Peakman's family arranged for him to be driven from hospital to his grandfather's house in a Rolls-Royce

His aunt Hayley said she wanted to thank the heart donor for "giving our Brooklyn a chance".

"I am the proudest man in Walsall," grandfather Peter Peakman said.

Brooklyn, from Prestatyn, Denbighshire, underwent surgery soon after he was born for a heart valve defect.

In October, his health deteriorated and doctors found a severe leak on his aortic valve.

His family welcomed him home to his grandad's house in Walsall after his operation in Birmingham

Ms Northall said: "The routine operation didn't go to plan. After he came out [of surgery], we were told there was no hope for Brooklyn."

Her son was in an induced coma and not expected to recover but slowly recuperated.

One transplant operation had to be abandoned when the heart was deemed unsuitable, but another was found and he had a 17-hour operation at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

Mr Peakman proposed to his girlfriend as he was being prepared for surgery and his fiancée said afterwards there was "light at the end of the tunnel".