One of the first patients to have a heart-lung transplant 35 years ago has returned to the hospital that carried it out to thank her surgeon for the gift of life.
In 1987 Katie Mitchell had days to live.
Failing organs meant she could hardly breath. She was just 15.
Doctors at the pioneering Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge thought the op might give her an extra four or five years.
Yesterday, on World Heart Day and during Organ Donation Week, Katie was reunited with Prof John Wallwork who led the transplant team.
The 50-year-old said: “It was emotional because without him and my donor I wouldn’t be here.
“He used to visit me on the ward and we would play hangman.”
Prof Wallwork, now retired from surgery and chairman of the hospital, said: “It was wonderful to see her after all this time.”
Katie was born with Eisenmenger Syndrome which causes heart failure and irreversible lung damage.
After the reunion she said: “The op changed everything. I could breathe straight away. It was amazing. It allowed me a normal life.”
Katie, from Sidcup, South East London, was not diagnosed until she was 12 and missed a year of school due to ill health.
Even when she could attend she was often late for lessons as she struggled to climb stairs between classrooms.
She said: “It got so bad that if I went downstairs in the morning there was no way I was going back up until bedtime.”
Yet just eight months after the transplant she passed all her GCSEs with top grades and went on to earn several A-levels.
After working as a nanny and a nightclub manager – where she met husband Lex – she joined an insurance company five years ago. But it wasn’t all plain sailing.
Heart and lung transplants were so new that doctors had less experience managing the anti-rejection drugs.
Her kidneys became damaged and she needed dialysis followed by two transplants – the first in 1994 and the second in 2015.
In all she spent a total of 10 years on the waiting list.
Yesterday she was due to be reunited with Carol Town, who had the same disease and who celebrated her 35th transplant anniversary in July, making her one of the longest surviving hear-lung swap patients.
The pair met Princess Diana together when she visited Papworth in 1988, taking part in a group photograph and receiving signed copies from the Palace.
Unfortunately Carol, 68, was too ill to attend. Instead she watched the reunion online at home in Yorkshire with husband Stephen and son Joss, whom she had after her transplant.
Katie said: “I consider myself incredibly lucky to have had three transplants but I would like to stop there. I hope I won’t need another.”
There are 10,000 people waiting for a transplant in the UK and research shows families are more likely to donate loved ones’ organs if they know that is what they wanted.
So NHS Blood and Transplant is urging people to discuss their wishes with their families and “leave them certain”.
- For more about the organ donor register, visit organdonation.nhs.uk
