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| Transplant baby
turns 18 | |
The first baby in Britain to survive a heart transplant celebrated her
18th birthday yesterday.
Kaylee Davidson was five months old when she received a new heart
during a pioneering operation at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon
Tyne, in 1987.
Now fit and healthy, she studies performing arts at a college in
Sunderland and is in training to represent Britain at the World Transplant
Games in Canada this summer.
Miss Davidson, who admitted that she was "looking forward to my first
legal drink", will be the guest of
honour tomorrow at a charity ball which is being held to
mark her coming of age.
"I am living proof that people can make a difference by becoming an
organ donor," she said. "I was only five months old when I had my
transplant, just a tiny baby. I wasn't given much chance, but the surgeons
were amazing and I was lucky enough to grow stronger and stronger."
Miss Davidson, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, had cardiomyopathy, a viral condition which
destroys the heart muscle. She would have died without the transplant.
Her mother, Carol Davidson, 37, yesterday recalled that for the first
few weeks of her daughter's life all had seemed normal, until one evening,
when she suddenly had breathing difficulties. A GP suggested that Kaylee was
suffering from a bad cold, but within 24 hours her lips turned blue. She
was admitted to hospital and placed on a life-support machine.
Her mother, a schools inspector, said: "My baby's heart was ruined and
the doctors said she would die without a transplant."
Until then, there had been no successful heart transplants on babies in
Europe. The two attempted in Britain had both
failed.
(Agencies) |
4月28日，英國首例接受心臟移植手術并成功存活的嬰兒慶祝了她的18歲生日。
1987年，凱莉·戴維森在泰恩河畔紐卡斯爾的弗里曼醫院接受了一次開創性的手術，植入了一顆新的心臟，當時她才五個月大。
現在健康結實的她在森德蘭的一所大學研習表演藝術，而且正在參加體育訓練，準備代表英國參加今天夏天即將在加拿大舉行的“世界移植運動會”。
戴維森小姐承認她曾經“渴望獲得第一次合法飲酒權”，明天她將參加一場為慶祝她成年而舉行的慈善舞會，并擔任主賓。
“我就是一個活生生的證據——人們能夠通過捐贈器官而使世界有所不同。我接受器官移植手術時才五個月大，只是一個很小的嬰孩而已。當時我存活的機會并不大，但主刀的外科醫生實在太棒了，我終于幸運地活了下來，并變得越來越強壯。”她說。
來自英國泰恩威爾郡華盛頓市的戴維森小姐患有原發性心肌癥，這種疾病是由破壞心肌的過濾性毒菌引起的。如果不做心臟移植手術，她就會死去。
她的母親，37歲的卡羅爾·戴維森昨天回憶說，女兒剛出生的幾周一切看上去都很正常，直到一天晚上，小凱莉突然出現呼吸困難。一位全科醫師推斷凱莉患了嚴重的感冒，但在24小時內，她的嘴唇開始發青。于是凱莉被緊急送進醫院，并放在一個呼吸機上。
戴維森的母親擔任多所學校的督學長，她說：“我孩子的心臟已經徹底不行了，醫生說如果不做心臟移植手術她就活不成了。”
在那次手術之前，歐洲尚未出現一例成功的嬰兒心臟移植手術。英國僅有的兩次嘗試均以失敗而告終。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-04-30 10:15
