UAE heart transplant plan raises new hope
abu dhabi — An Emirati father of 11, whose children all suffer from the same genetic heart disease, said he hopes they will have the chance to undergo heart transplantations in the UAE, should it ever come to that.
Sultan Khamees Al Yihaee, who has already lost one child to familial cardiomyopathy and whose two teenage boys underwent heart transplants in India, said the opening of organ transplantation units at Burjeel Hospital in the UAE will help more families have new chances at life.
“When you see your child pass away from a disease that all your other children suffer from, it makes you lose hope. But I am truly happy with how healthy and happy my boys are now and our nation has helped a lot.”
On Sunday, medical experts said patients will no longer need to travel abroad for organ transplants, once the transplantation units become available across UAE hospitals.
Dr Yassin Ibrahim M. El Shahat, consultant — nephrology and chief medical officer at Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi, said world-renowned organ transplant surgeons have been studying the hospital, before giving it the green light to open its first organ transplant unit.
For Al Yihaee, the prospect of such a facility in the UAE means one thing for his family: “We have been given a new opportunity — a new life.”
jasmine@khaleejtimes.com
abu dhabi — An Emirati father, who fears for the lives of his children suffering from familial cardiomyopathy, pitched for organ trans-planatation units in the UAE.
Sharing his personal experience during an exclusive organ transplantation discussion at Burjeel Hospital on Sunday, Sultan Khamees Al Yihaee, father of 11 children, said his two teenage boys underwent successful heart transplant surgeries in India, which gave his sons not only new hearts but new lives.
He added that he hopes his other eight children, who also tragically suffer from genetic heart diseases, will get a chance to have heart transplantations in the UAE. He said any parent witnessing his or her child suffer, causes an indescribable emotion.
Al Yihaee said: “I actually lost hope at one moment, I lost hope that my sons would be given the opportunity to live and walk again, but thank God everything changed. We have been given a new opportunity, a new life.
“To be honest, I can never describe to you how I feel as a father. When you see your son almost lose his life; when a doctor tells you that there is no way your son will live longer than one or two months; but then everything changes and you see your boy living his life, eating, walking and playing. I believe, these emotions and feelings I have as a parent are simply indescribable.”
The father of five boys (one is no more) and six girls, said all his children suffer from the familial cardiomyopathy. However, his son’s conditions are more severe than his daughters. His sons 19-year-old Hamed and 17-year-old Mohammed Sultan Khamees Al Yihaee, were taken to Gleneagles Global Health City Hospital in Chennai for their heart surgeries, which took place in March and April.
The family’s history of the disease lead to the tragic loss of Mohammed’s twin brother back in 2013.
“One of my sons passed away in 2013, he was waiting for a heart transplant in the US, but he could not get it. We went to seven or eight different countries looking for a cure and a solution to decrease the pain that our children have been suffering from. Thank God... we came across Dr Sandeep, who has been nothing but helpful, cooperative, professional and caring.”
‘It took five hours for each boy’
Dr Sandeep Attawar, chairman of cardiac surgery at Gleneagles Hospital, said the siblings, who he operated on, have become like his own family during their four months of stay in India.
“We shared their pain and the anxiety they felt in a foreign country, during an extreme unhealthy situation, while eagerly waiting for an organ, which came right in the middle of the night, in the most unexpected circumstance.”
The doctor said each operation took almost five hours. “Hamed was airlifted to India and was in a very bad shape. He needed to be stabilised to be a suitable candidate for the transplant.”
Dr Sandeep said a criteria for organ transplantation, is if the patient suffers from a secondary organ dysfunction. Hamed was experiencing a sudden liver shock, which was caused by a shortage in blood and oxygen. His surgery took place during the first week of March, just weeks before his younger brother, Mohammed.
“Patients who survive the first 30 days after the heart transplant, will have normal recoveries, although they don’t have neural connections. But with training, the neural connections become possible.
“Keeping the heart in the same situation as it is right now, is our top priority, therefore aggressive monitoring and close observation is required.” The boys’ father said he hopes no more parents will have to witness losing their children due to organ failure. “When you see your child dies from a disease that all your other children suffer from, it makes you lose hope. But my country helped a lot.” He added: “Opening the organ transplantation units in the UAE will help more families have new chances in life.”
jasmine@khaleejtimes.com