3 YEARS ON, ‘WORLD
CHEERFULLY walking for miles and clambering up mountains, Aaron Brown looks like any happy, healthy 10-year-old.
Yet mum Stephanie will never take such moments for granted.
For it is not long ago that Aaron was so frail that even playing out like other kids was impossible.
The youngster was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome – meaning he had only half a heart – and had his first life-saving surgery at just a few hours old.
At three, doctors predicted he would not survive the year.
Even after Aaron beat those odds, Stephanie feared her lad would become one of the 25% of children who die waiting for a transplant.
But Aaron’s life was saved thanks to pioneering technology when he became the first child in the world given a “heart in a box” transplant.
The device keeps the donor organ pumping after removal, greatly increasing the number of hearts that can be transplanted when a matching recipient is not close by.
Stephanie said: “Life’s been a rollercoaster since Aaron was born.
“There’s been a constant worry that if he over-exerts then his heart will just stop working.
“His life now is transformed – the kid they thought wouldn’t survive 24 hours when he was born is now playing football, going to school full time, can walk for miles and even climbs mountains.”
Aaron could have died while waiting on the transplant list if the pioneering device had not been used by the team of surgeons from Newcastle and the Royal
Papworth Hospital.
Normally a heart is kept on ice while it is transported to the recipient. But that is only considered safe in cases of brain stem death, where the donor’s body is still keeping the organ alive.
The “heart in a box” device makes it possible for those who die through trauma or illness to also pass their hearts on. Care worker Stephanie, 28, said: “For two years Aaron was very frail, chalky white and had blue lips.
“You read of kids dying on the list and you worry your kid might be one of those.”
In February 2011, at just a few hours old, Aaron had been rushed