A BRAVE Vale grandmother who featured on the Journal front page after undergoing pioneering heart surgery has died.

In March Val Rogerson, aged 65 from Wick shared her miraculous survival story from an operation last August given less than one per cent chance of succeeding. But despite coming through 48 hours of surgery to replace her aortic valve for the fourth time, the mother of two lost her fight for life on Friday, April 23.

Mrs Rogerson's daughter Paula Small said: "My mum was an inspiration. Her death came as quite a shock but she had had a bug a few weeks before and something had not seemed quite right to me. I actually thought the last time I said goodbye to her that I would not see her again.

"The nice thing is my mum got through the operation, she came home and she died at home - she did not see her grandchildren in a hospital environment. I have been to see her and she looks really peaceful, but she is not there and I know she has gone to a better place."

The groundbreaking operation Mrs Rogerson underwent last summer was featured in a BBC1 documentary about the work of heart surgeon Stephen Westaby. When her TV appearance was reported in the Journal several old friends got in touch and visited the former Evesham market stallholder.

Paula said: "I think mum got a lot of comfort from surviving the operation, being an inspiration to others and helping medical research. She was not a boastful person but she was very proud when she saw that programme."

Mrs Rogerson's funeral was held yesterday at Evesham's All Saints Church and guests were asked to give donations to Mr Westaby's research fund, rather than floral tributes. Paula explained: "My sister and I plan to take the donations to him personally - he does a lot of operations on babies and small children and mum would have wanted the money to go there."