‘Heart in a box’ saved man’s life
Transplant patient is first at QE hospital to receive pioneering medical procedure
AMIDLAND father owes his life to a heart in a box beating outside his body as surgeons prepared for a remarkable transplant operation.
The donor heart kept beat in a transparent box as blood was pumped through it to keep it alive.
Father-of-one James Walton is the first person to have the pioneering procedure at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Mr Walton, who works as a joiner, fell desperately ill due to Marfan Syndrome which affects the connective tissue in the body and can lead to heart valve problems later in life.
He was barely able to walk more than a few yards, and was put on the urgent transplant list on January 3.
Luckily a donor was found five days later and he was given a new heart using the new procedure on January 8.
“As soon as I woke up, I felt like a new person,” said Mr Walton, who has a three-year-old son. “I felt great. I can breathe again. Most importantly, I can spend time with my little boy.”
In 2015 Mr Walton’s health began to deteriorate and in October he needed surgery after his aorta ruptured.
The following year he had further surgery to have his aortic valve replaced, and finally a pacemaker fitted. But all the operations failed to do the trick, and he was left barely able to walk, in pain, and having difficulty breathing.
The only option left was to find a new heart.
“My heart wasn’t working right so it was affecting my day-to-day life,” recalled Mr Walton, 34. “I was finding it hard to breathe, and to play with my little lad.
“I couldn’t really do anything in the end.”
Mr Walton became so ill that on some days he could not even get out of bed. Despite having a pacemaker fitted, his heart could not get enough oxygen round his body.
When he was asleep, his heart was beating dangerously slowly.
Mr Walton was admitted to the Royal Stoke Hospital at the beginning of December, where doctors first discussed a heart transplant as an option.
Just after Christmas, he was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham, and was put on the transplant list on January 3.
Mr Walton was taken to surgery days later where surgeon Mr Majid Mukadam had retrieved the heart from the donor patient.
The heart was put in the box, where it continued beating and remained alive by pumping blood round its ‘box body’.
Usually, transplant organs are kept in an ice box to preserve them, which can pit surgeons against the clock.
But the new ‘heart in a box’ technique means surgeons have more time to carry out the operation, making it easier for medics and the patient.
Immunosuppressant drugs are also pumped through the blood, minimising the chance of the heart being rejected.
The hospital is one of the only centres in the UK to have the box, after the QEHB Charity and Heart Research UK raised £265,000 to fund the machine.
Mr Walton is now back home in Stoke-on-Trent and is making the most of family life.