Grace’s wait for new heart ends
TODDLER KEPT ALIVE WITH MOBILE HEART HAS TRANSPLANT
A TODDLER who became the first child in the UK to use a mobile heart has received a life-saving transplant after a two-year wait.
Grace Westwood made history when she was fitted with a Berlin Heart machine at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. The two-year-old fell seriously ill months after being born with a damaged left ventricle in November 2019.
The Mirror reports how the device kept her alive at the hospital until a heart became available. It also had a battery that enabled her to move around and leave her ward. Earlier this month, a match was found and her family received the call they had been waiting for.
Grace, who is from Birmingham and has a six-year-old brother called Josh, has now received a heart transplant. Her parents Becci Jones and Darren Westwood said thank you “just wasn’t enough” for the donor family who had saved her life.
Darren said of the moment a new heart was found: “It felt surreal. Everyone was in tears.” Becci added: “How do you put into words the gift they’ve given us? They’ve lost a child and have given us so much.”
Doctors admit it is rare for children to be on a Berlin Heart machine for so long. Consultant paediatric-cardiologist Abbas Khushnood said Grace surviving so long on the machine “gives us more hope for children with heart failure to be able to get a transplant.”
The Chronicle reported on five families who are waiting for life-saving heart transplants for their children at the hospital. Beatrix Adamson-archbold, Luke Myles, Ethan Mains, Nour Hussein and Leyla Bell are all waiting for a transplant on Ward 23.
Beatrix’s dad Terry Archbold explained how his daughter was also using a Berlin Heart device after she suffered heart failure in May. The 44-year-old said she also suffered a cardiac arrest and they had to “fight to bring her back”. Terry, from Burnopfield, said doctors need to keep her stable until a new heart becomes available. Sadly there is no guarantee she will receive one.
He said: “The difficulty with children is you are dealing with the very sensitive topic of the loss of a child. You’re looking to parents at the worst possible moment of their lives, when they have lost their child and their whole world is falling apart.”