Heart transplants run in our family

Published on Monday 20 April 2009 22:08

COPING with the trauma of a heart transplant is something most families will never have to endure.

But now one Scottish household is facing the prospect of a third transplant in 16 months.

Brother and sister Stephen and Rachael Moffat, from Cleland, North Lanarkshire, underwent surgery within eight months of each other after being diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, which could have killed them at any moment.

But their father Andrew may now need a transplant himself because of the same hereditary condition, which has left him officially in heart failure.

It is the first time at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, where the UK's first successful heart transplant on a child was performed in 1987, that two children from the same family have had the operation.

Stephen, 12, was first to receive a new heart in December 2007 and Rachel, 7, followed eight months later. It was the instinct of Stephen and Rachael's mother, Mary, a 44-year-old nurse and midwife, that saved her children's lives.

Stephen was the most active of boys and wanted to be a professional footballer – but alarm bells rang after he collapsed twice within nine months.

Rachael was constantly tired and never wanted to take part in any activities. She needed to sleep for a couple of hours when she returned from school.

Mrs Moffat pushed for tests on both, which diagnosed restrictive cardiomyopathy, the rarest form of a condition in which the walls of the lower heart chambers – the ventricles – are abnormally rigid.

Eventually, the heart loses the ability to pump blood properly, leading to heart failure and sometimes even to sudden death.

Both came through the procedures and have to date made full recoveries.

"Rachael has so much energy now," Mrs Moffat said. "She loves being outside and running around.

"She is back dancing and I am trying to get her back swimming, although people are frightened of someone with a transplant.

"It's the same with Stephen. His boys' club was frightened to let him play football for more than five minutes."

While both children will require new hearts when they reach adulthood, their father now faces the prospect of a transplant after collapsing with heart failure two months ago.

The 45-year-old farmer has had to rely on his family to help keep the business running.

"I'm OK if I'm sitting but as soon as I do something strenuous, I get fatigued and breathless – my wife would say grumpy," he quipped.

Mr Moffat, who has a history of heart problems, added: "We have not made the decision about a heart transplant. But my quality of life as a 45-year-old is bad and I can't work.

"When I see the difference in Rachael, I think it is worth the risk, because she is amazing. But even though they have been through it, it does not make the decision any easier," he said.

"It wouldn't be a hat-trick, it would be a heart-trick."