Dad saved by heart in box

His new organ is kept beating for 5 hours before transplant

A FATHER underwent a remarkable transplant operation which saw his new beating heart stored in a transparent box.

James Walton’s new organ was kept alive for five hours in the ‘heart in a box’ transplant as blood was pumped through to keep it healthy.

Usually, transplant organs are kept in an ice box to preserve them, a method which can pit surgeons against the clock to complete the procedure before the organ starts to deteriorate. But the new transplant procedure keeps the organ warm and active, instead of slowing its metabolism, meaning that surgeons have more time to carry out the operation.

Immunosuppressant drugs are also pumped through the blood, minimising the chance of the heart being rejected.

Mr Walton, 34, became the first person to undergo the procedure at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham after his aorta ‘burst’, leaving him unable to walk more than 100 yards.

Miraculously, a suitable donor organ was identified only five days after he was placed on the urgent transplant list last month. Mr Walton, a joiner, was given a new heart on January 8, and said he ‘felt like a new person’ as soon as he woke up.

The father-of-one, from Stoke-on-Trent, added: ‘I felt great. I can breathe again. Most importantly, I can spend time with my little boy.’ Mr Walton was born with Marfan Syndrome, which affects the connective tissue in the body and can lead to heart valve problems later in life.

In 2015, his health began to deteriorate and that 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 bring Mr Walton back to full health, and he was eventually left barely able to walk, in pain and having difficulty in breathing.

He found it difficult to play with his son, Jack, now aged three, as his heart struggled to pump enough oxygen around his body. Mr Walton, who is married to Kat, 33, was admitted to the Royal Stoke Hospital at the start of December, where doctors first discussed a heart transplant.

Just after Christmas, he was transferred to the Birmingham hospital, which he was too ill to leave. When a donor was found, surgeon Majid Mukadam retrieved the heart from the donor and put it in the ‘heart in a box’ device.

The procedure isn’t necessary for all transplant patients, but because Mr Walton had undergone several heart operations he had a lot of scar tissue. That meant his heart would ‘cling’ to his body, taking doctors longer to remove it.

The equipment, which cost £265,000, includes an oxygen tank, supply of blood, batteries, and equipment to monitor the organ, and pump nutrient-rich warm blood round the donor heart, keeping it beating as though inside a body.

Five weeks on from the procedure, Mr Walton is back at home and building up his strength with a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation course. ‘It’s still early doors but I can walk down the street and up the stairs – it’s the simple things,’ he said.

‘I can spend time with my little boy’