A VIDEO shows the nail-biting moment a surgeon is forced to remove a patient’s heart after it stops mid-operation.
Joanna, 48, was in desperate need of a heart transplant and was on the operating table waiting for her new donor heart to arrive when her own gave out.
5
5
5
Quick-thinking surgeons were forced to remove Joanna’s failing heart as her life hung in the balance.
The operation was documented on the new series The Hospital: Life on the Line, airing on Mondays on Channel 5.
The dramatic series goes inside the cardiology ward at NHS Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank to follow dedicated staff as they mend hearts and provide a lifeline to patients.
For weeks, Joanna thought she was coming down with Covid.
But her world came crashing down when doctors delivered the shocking news that her health was in serious trouble as she was on the brink of heart failure.
Heart failure means that the heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly, usually because it has become too weak or stiff.
Symptoms of the condition can include breathlessness, fatigue, swollen legs or ankles and feeling lightheaded and fainting.
The 48-year-old was told she’d need an urgent heart transplant and that her own heart was “basically kaput”.
She recalled: “It was a bit of a shock, I’m not going to lie. I cried for 24 hours.
“But it could have been a lot worse. As in [the doctor’s] words, bless her, I could have been dead.”
Joanna said she was “very very lucky” her condition had been caught when it did.
“I can’t get over the fact that I kept going.”
Admitted to the NHS Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, near Glasgow, Joanna was placed on the urgent list for a transplant as her heart was scarcely pumping blood.
Around 20 per cent of the UK’s heart transplants take place at the NHS Golden Jubilee every year.
The hospital’s transplant coordinators began their search for a heart that would be a good match for Joanna, coordinating with the five other transplant centres in the UK.
After two failed attempts to find her a viable heart, it seemed Joanna and her care team’s prayers had been answered.
Coordinators found a third donor heart that looked to be a good potential match for the 48-year-old and began prepping her for the lifesaving operation while waiting for the heart to arrive.
Joanna’s surgeons faced a time crunch, as the donor heart would only remain viable for three hours.
Accounted for the time it would take to deliver the organ, medics had just over a two hour window to transplant Joanna’s new heart.
In anticipation of arriving, the surgical team opened her chest and got to work with removing a tumour at the back of Joanna’s heart.
11 signs you might have heart disease
AROUND 7.6million people in the UK live with heart and circulatory diseases. Are you one of them?
If you notice any of the following symptoms, it is time to see a doctor.
- Chest pain
- Feeling sick
- Stomach pain or indigestion
- Feeling sweaty or clammy
- Leg pain
- Arm pain
- Jaw or back pain
- Choking sensation
- Swollen ankles
- Extreme fatigue
- Irregular heartbeat
Source: British Heart Foundation
Cardiac and transplant surgeon Simon Messer said: “I wasn’t sure of how long it was going to take me to take out the tumour at the back of the heart and how much reconstruction I was going to have to do.
“That’s why I was keen to open her chest earlier than later.”
But just minutes into the procedure, with the lifesaving transplant organ still en route, Joanna went in cardiac arrest – when the heart stops beating suddenly.
With Joanna’s life hanging in the balance, Dr Messer decided to place Joanna on a heart bypass machine to keep her alive.
The machine can temporarily take over the function of the heart.
Having done so, the surgeon removed Joanna’s ailing heart and began tackling the tumour lying behind.
The point of no return
Joanna’s transplant surgery is at the point of no return, as her own heart is beyond repair and has been removed from her chest.
As Dr Messer finished removing Joanna’s tumour, her donor heart thankfully arrived and surgeons started on the painstaking process of transplanting it in Joanna’s chest.
After an arduous eight hour operation, surgeons were able to get Joanna’s new heart beating and close up her chest.
More about organ donation
THE LAW around organ donation in England changed in 2020, to allow more people to save lives.
You still have a choice if you want to be an organ donor when you die.
But in England, now that the law has changed, it’ll be considered that you agree to become an organ donor when you die, if:
- You are over 18
- You have not opted out;
- You are not in an excluded group
Excluded groups are people under 18, people who lack the mental capacity to understand the new arrangements and take the necessary action, visitors to England and people who’ve lived in England for less than 12 months.
You can choose to opt in or opt out by recording your decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
You can choose to amend or withdraw your decision at any time.
Who can donate?
To donate organs after death, a person needs to die in hospital in specific circumstances.
You can also become a living donor and donate your kidney, part of liver or tissue and bone.
Parents and guardians can register their children, and children can register themselves.
Children who are under 12 in Scotland and under 18 in the rest of the UK at the time of registration will require their parent or guardian’s agreement for donation to take place.
You can become a donor if you have:
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)
- Ebola virus disease
- Active cancer
- HIV – though rare cases, the organs of donors with HIV have been used to help others with the same conditions
Read more on the NHS Organ Donation Portal.
And learn more about organ and tissue donation laws for Scotland here.
She was transferred to the ICU so medics could monitor how well her new heart was working.
After just two weeks, was once again on her feet and able to walk on a treadmill and climb stairs.
“I though I was going to die. I should have been dead,” Joanna said, ecstatic about her progress.
“All out of nothing, I was really fit and healthy. I know it doesn’t look like a lot, but having gone through what [I’ve gone] through, it’s pretty mental.”
Joanna’s episode of The Hospital: Life on the Line will air on Monday June 17 at 10pm on Channel 5 and My5.
5
5
