Home Heart Transplantation Irish heart transplant recipient celebrates 38 years since surgery

Irish heart transplant recipient celebrates 38 years since surgery

by Fergal Bowers
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Mater Misericordier University Hospital is celebrating 38 years since the surgery on the country's longest-living heart transplant patient.

Andy Kavanagh was just 19 years old when he underwent surgery in 1986 under the care of Maurice Nelligan and Freddie Wood.

Thirty-eight years after his surgery, Mr Kavanagh, of Coolock, Dublin, is married, father of one, grandfather of three and works at An Post.

He is just one year behind the world's longest surviving heart transplant patient.

The average survival time for a heart transplant is approximately 15 years.

Mr Kavanagh was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy when a flu-like illness attacked his heart muscle when he was just 18 years old and required a transplant to save his life.

“My donor, David, was the same age as me when he passed away. I was lucky enough to meet his family a year after the transplant,” Kavanagh said.

“I placed an ad in the newspaper on our first anniversary to thank him and his family, and they contacted me. If it wasn't for their decision, I wouldn't be here today. Maybe organ donation saves lives.”

He said he is grateful every day to David and his family for donating his organs after he was struck and killed by a driver in 1986.

Kavanaugh was also diagnosed with cancer in 2000 and had to have his kidney removed.

The anti-rejection drugs he was taking for his heart soon caused his other kidney to fail, necessitating a kidney transplant, which he received in 2006.

Mehta began its heart transplant program in 1985, and more than 400 transplants have been performed since then.

Dr. Emer Joyce, consultant cardiologist at the hospital, said the prognosis for heart transplant patients today is much better than when Kavanagh received a donor heart in 1986, especially when he He said his journey has been remarkable considering the other health obstacles he has faced.


Read more: Ireland's first joint heart and liver transplant successful

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