Heart transplant girl goes home

Sally Slater is making a good recovery

Heart transplant girl Sally Slater left hospital to return home on Friday.

The six-year-old received a new heart in April after a nationwide appeal for a donor.

She had been given just hours to live after her heart completely failed.

Sally and her mother Bridget

Sally, who has two younger brothers, fell ill in March after contracting a mystery virus, which caused a condition called cardiomyopathy, which attacks the muscles in the heart.

She was transferred to the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, where surgeons first fitted an artificial heart to allow more time for a donor to be found.

Days before leaving for home, Sally was moved from a cardiology ward at the Freeman Hospital to a hospital flat where her parents had been staying since her illness.

Sally's progress has delighted her family

She appeared at a press conference at the hospital on Thursday with her parents Bridget and Jon.

She said she was looking forward to seeing her brothers, and to having a party once she got back to the family home in Malham, North Yorkshire.

Sally has received 2,300 get well letters during her time in hospital.

Amazing gift

Mr Slater said: "We can never say thank you enough to all the doctors and nurses on ward 28 at the Freeman Hospital who are incredibly dedicated to what they do and who have been incredibly kind to Sally and the family.

"And secondly we have to say a big thank you to the family of the person who donated the heart for Sally. Without that amazing gift this would never have happened, and the story would be very different.

"We have exchanged letters through the hospital with that family and I am sure we will do so again at a later date."

Sally will still need indefinite care and attention, including weekly blood tests and physiotherapy for the foreseeable future.

These should become less frequent as her heart gets stronger.

the rest of her life is not going to be the same as any other child, but we have to think we have been incredibly lucky at the same time

Jon Slater

Mr Slater said: "We're going to have to keep our feet on the ground everyday for the rest of her life.

"Unfortunately the rest of her life is not going to be the same as any other child, but we have to think we have been incredibly lucky at the same time.

"All we can do is to make sure she has the best quality of life possible, by keeping an eye on her diet and temperature and what she gets up to in her everyday life."