Leaving a LEGACY

When Jenifer Rosenberg’s husband Ian was diagnosed with heart failure, the pair set up a charity to help others

- KATE CHAPMAN

Hearing the stories of how so many lives have been changed as a result of the charity she and her late husband Ian set up is overwhelming, but a wonderful legacy in his memory, says Jenifer.

Ian was diagnosed with heart failure in 2003, his condition so severe doctors only gave him two months to live. But after travelling to Germany for pioneering stem-cell treatment, he lived another three years and devoted himself to establishing the Heart Cells Foundation, so others in the UK could also access the therapy.

‘Ian was a positive, tenacious person, and thanks to this stem-cell treatment, we had another three amazing years together,’ says Jenifer, 79, who lives in London.

‘His treatment cost £5,000 18 years ago, but it wasn’t available in the UK – we were lucky we were able to pay for it ourselves,’ Jenifer says.

‘But Ian couldn’t understand why no money was being allocated for research here, or why he should be able to pay for it and go to Germany. He wanted everyone to have the same opportunity.

‘However, that meant we had to raise £6 million. Somehow we did it. We held three gold-standard trials, which treated more than 300 patients, and the results were outstanding,’ Jenifer continues. ‘Now, I’m not a very emotional person, but when I hear the stories of the people who have been helped, it always brings a lump to my throat.’

Jenifer met Ian in the early 1980s, when both of them were holidaying in the south of France. She was widowed and running her own fashion company, while Ian was divorced and worked in the textile industry, in manufacturing.