Published on: 21 October 2025
A painter has used his talents to create artworks as a thank you to the specialists who helped him recover from his heart attack and major surgery.
Jason Bryant, from South Shields, has made two copies of the same image now he is well enough to paint again.
One has been presented to the cardiology team at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (STSFT) and the other to The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH).
The 55-year-old underwent an angiogram following his heart attack three years ago. An angiogram is a test which uses X-rays to look at the heart’s blood vessels.
Jason was told he would need to undergo a triple heart bypass, where three of his arteries needed to be treated.
But as he was preparing to be moved from Sunderland Royal Hospital to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, he became unwell with flu.
He spent more than 70 days in Sunderland’s Integrated Critical Care Unit (ICCU) before he could be transferred for his operation. When it was carried out, four of his arteries needed to be treated, making it a quadruple heart bypass.
As his treatment and his road to recovery continues, Jason visited Sunderland Royal Hospital’s Cardiology Centre to present the painting. It shows a heart and a pair of hands wearing medical gloves with the words ‘My heart in your hands’.
He presented the piece to Dr Chris Benson, Consultant Cardiologist, who helped diagnose and care for Jason.
The other painting has been gifted to the team at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, is also run by NUTH, while a sketch he did while in his hospital bed will be passed on to a nurse who helped support him through his time in its care.
Jason said:
“Dr Benson saved my life, he saw that I wasn’t very well, and he was brilliant.
“I wanted to do this picture as a thank you for him and the others who helped look after me. Being back in my studio has been therapy.
“In the three days in the run up to my heart attack, I’d had a shortness of breath and I felt like I had the flu or a cold coming on and when I went to hospital they said I’d had a heart attack.
“The care I got was brilliant, absolutely fantastic, I wouldn’t be here without all their help.”
Dr Benson said:
“Jason presented the painting to us when he came in for one of his appointments. He had mentioned to us he had started working on the painting and could be bring it in once it was fully dry.
“It was very kind of him to create this for our team and we know he’s found his art helpful as he’s continued to recover.”
More information on the Cardiology care offered by STSFT can be found through this page: https://www.stsft.nhs.uk/services/cardiology
