Schoolgirl's heart op cancelled

The donor heart had deteriorated too much

A life-saving heart transplant for a 12-year-old girl has been cancelled at the eleventh hour.

Surgeons discovered the heart destined for Hannah Pudsey was unsuitable just hours before she was due to go into the operating theatre on Friday.

Hannah, of Nafferton, East Yorkshire, was born with two holes in her heart and has been waiting for a transplant since July last year.

She could go into heart failure at any moment.

Hannah is very poorly and needs a transplant as soon as possible

Neil Wrightson,
transplant coordinator

Transplant co-ordinator at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, Neil Wrightson, said: "Unfortunately the operation had to be cancelled at the last minute because the organ had deteriorated too much and was not suitable for transplant.

"It has been an extremely distressing few hours for the family.

"Hannah is very poorly and needs a transplant as soon as possible."

Second setback

Four years ago medics warned Hannah may not survive after an artificial heart valve, fitted earlier, suddenly failed.

Friday's setback is the second time in four months that organs have proved unsuitable at the last minute.

Hospital spokeswoman Anne Davison said Hannah's parents, Ros and David, were too distraught to speak on Saturday.

"The family want some time to pull themselves together as it really takes it out of them," she said.

"Because time is of the essence we have to call in the patients and prepare them for an operation that may or may not happen."