NEWBORN BECOMES THE YOUNGEST TO HAVE AN ARTIFICIAL HEART FITTED
Two weeks after Tiarna Middleton was born, her mother still has not been able to hold her daughter in her arms.
In desperate need of a transplant, t he baby has become the youngest in the world to be fitted with an artificial heart and all her parents can do is hold her hand as she fights for life.
Weighing 5lb 8oz, Tiarna was born with a rare condition that meant she was missing vital coronary arteries and the right side of her heart had not grown at all.
Parents Sharney Gray, 22, and Gary Middleton, 25, launched an appeal to encourage people to join the organ donor register in a bid to help find a donor for their daughter, and Tiarna became both the youngest and smallest baby on the UK transplant waiting list.
But no suitable donors have
Weighing 5lb 8oz, Tiarna was born with a rare condition that meant she was missing vital coronary arteries and the right side of her heart had not grown at all
been found and doctors pulled off a medical first by fitting the 14-day-old with a ‘Berlin heart’ during a delicate tenhour operation at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
The 33lb machine supports the work of the heart and acts as a life-saving bridging device for children awaiting a transplant. Mr. Middleton, a freelance courier, said: ‘We have been on a total emotional rollercoaster and are taking each day as it comes. Tiarna is doing well in the circumstances.’
Tiarna was born with an extremely rare condition called hypoplastic right heart syndrome, which meant she had a blocked heart valve in the artery going to the lungs.
She was kept alive initially by an ECMO machine, which took over the work of the heart and put oxygen in the blood.
In the meantime, Tiarna was urgently listed for heart transplantation. To save her life, she would need the heart of a baby aged three months or younger.
But ECMO is suitable only for short-term support, and with no donors available and time running out, surgeons decided to try to fit a Berlin heart as a last resort. They used a new small version of the device, delivered from The Berlin Heart Company in Germany where it was made.
Miss Gray said: ‘She’s the smallest person they’ve tried that on. She has nothing left to try so we hope this works. The doctors at the Freeman have done everything for her.’