How Christmas Eve led to heart transplant for Alycia
THIS time last year, Alycia Matthews was told out of the blue that she had a deadly heart defect and her only hope was a transplant.
The 20-year-old’s world was torn apart on Christmas Eve after doctors discovered she had dilated cardiomyopathy.
The condition means her heart’s ability to pump blood is decreased because its main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, is enlarged and weakened.
She was told a week later that she had to have a heart transplant after she was taken to the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire.
Miss Matthews, of Bathgate, West Lothian, spent three months receiving treatment until she had a call in March, telling her a donor had been found.
The transplant saved her life. She is now looking forward to donning a glitzy dress instead of a hospital gown to enjoy Christmas dinner with her sisters Lauren, 23, and 11-year-old Holly.
Miss Matthews started to feel unwell a month before Christmas last year.
She was suffering chest pain and had trouble breathing – but doctors thought it was a chest infection and she was repeatedly sent home.
In the early hours of Christmas Eve, her condition worsened.
Miss Matthews said: ‘It came all of a sudden. It was really painful and I was struggling to breathe. I called my mum because I couldn’t get out of bed.
‘The paramedics came out and had a look at me, but couldn’t find anything wrong. Then I went to sleep and woke up a few hours later and things were worse.
‘So I went into hospital in the morning and had tests all Christmas Eve. They told me later it was my heart. It was terrifying.
‘The left side of my heart was dilated and there was a lot of back-flow of blood, so I wasn’t getting enough circulation.’
She went on the transplant list in January and had the operation in March.
Miss Matthews, who has now returned to work with a jewellery firm in Edinburgh, said: ‘When I woke up, it was almost like waking up in a different body. I felt really warm, I had all this blood in my body. My fingers were tingling.
‘I would like to get in touch with the donor’s family to say thank you. They have done something major for me.’