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Our guardian angel

 
Our guardian angel

That's how Anne Mackie is affectionately known by a couple with Bupa private medical insurance whose lives she has helped to transform.

Anne, a member service adviser based at Bupa in Salford Quays, arranged for Peter Walker to have a rare life-saving operation at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge to remove blood clots from his lungs as part of his treatment for pulmonary hypertension.

Anne has always been the couple's first port of call at Bupa and even as she waited at Manchester Airport to go on holiday - the same day as Peter's operation - she called his wife, Hazel, to reassure her.

Following his recovery, Peter and Hazel travelled from their home in County Durham to visit Anne at work to say thanks, enjoying a tour of the offices before taking her out to lunch.

Hazel said: "Anne was instrumental in ensuring Peter had the surgery he needed - he was only the 320th patient in the country to undergo this type of operation.

"Peter was told that without the surgery he would have died within six months.

"He was extremely poorly, but is now a different person, and that is thanks to Bupa, Anne and Papworth Hospital. She has always been outstanding with her sensitive and sympathetic approach, and we wanted to meet up and give her our thanks."

Anne has bounced back from cancer herself. Now on the road to recovery from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Anne said: "When I got back to work I received a lovely bunch of flowers from Mr and Mrs Walker.

"Their appreciation makes the job worthwhile.

"Like my colleagues, I always strive to treat our members as we would expect to be treated ourselves.

"We are very proud of the positive feedback we get from members."

Read more about hypertension.

Find out more about the Blood Pressure Association charity.