I came across a piece of news last month (Oct 2007) learning that a young girl survived with two heart transplants. I then did some research through Internet and here is the information I had gather!
A young Malaysian Chinese girl, Tee Hui Yi, spent more than a year waiting for a heart donor finally fulfils her wish early this month (October 2007). But the operation did not go through smoothly. Her body rejected the first heart donated by a 15-year-old Muslim boy but fortunately, the second transplant using the heart of a 20-year-old Chinese man was successfully.
The 14-year-old girl was diagnosed with heart failure when she was just 2 years old, after a viral infection strike her. In order to keep her alive, she underwent an operation on 29 Sep last year was fitted last year with a mechanical heart. The mechanical heart is a device implanted outside her abdomen and connected to her heart. Because of this, she had to carry a battery weighing 9.8 kilos (about 20 pounds) to power the mechanical heart wherever she goes. The battery can only last for approximately 2 years. It is hope that this device can support her while awaiting for a donor.
A year has passed and yet no suitable donors for heart was found. Her deteriorating condition had really worried the doctors. Needless to say, she definitely felt very depressed. The girl had to make tearful pleas through the media for donors of heart.
"How long more do I have to wait for a heart? I need a donor soon."
This was the question that Hui Yi kept asking over and over again before she was given a chance to change her heart.
After the long wait of one year, she finally received a heart in a 10-hour operation at the National Heart Institute in Malaysia. The donor was an 15-year-old boy who died in a road accident. But, because of rejection, she had to undergo a second transplant 2 days later.
According to a report on 21 October 2007 by Bernama, the Malaysian National News Agency, Hui Yi is showing positive progress and in stable condition after she was taken off the ventilator a few days ago.
As a precaution to protect her from any infection, she was still placed in the Intensive Care Unit. Nevertheless, she could eat soup and porridge, and was fed supplementary nutrients through the tube in her nose.
After the operation, Hui Yi expressed her gratitude to all the people who had helped her for the past. Watch the following short video provided by eMedia:
Let us pray for her speedy discovery so that she can do many of the things that she wanted to do in the past but was not able to.
What happen to this young girl is certainly uncontrollable. But for healthy people like many of us, we should prevent heart disease from the outset. Remember, eat healthily and exercise regularly are still the keys to a heart healthy lifestyle.
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