At the age of 15, medics feared Katie Mitchell was coming to the end of her life after suffering irreversible lung damage and heart failure from a rare congenital disease.
But she defied the odds thanks to a heart and lung transplant, and at the age of 53 she has become the UK’s longest-surviving recipient of such a procedure.
Mitchell was diagnosed with Eisenmenger syndrome when she was 11. She had high blood pressure in her pulmonary arteries which caused an increased resistance to blood flow through the lungs, which led to irreversible lung damage and heart failure.
Mitchell had her combined transplant at Royal Papworth hospital in September 1987, a procedure so rare that only about five are carried out in the UK each year.
“Thanks to organ donation, I was given the gift of a normal life,” she said.
“I think about my donor a lot, especially on the anniversary of the transplant. I think about their family and what their family must have felt at the time.
“I just know my donor was a young female. Her family made that decision at a terrible time in their lives. I am so grateful.
“It’s quite difficult to put into words how it feels to know I am now the longest-lived heart-lung recipient in the UK. It’s mixed feelings.
“People I know who had the same transplant have passed away in front of me, but it’s a blessing and amazing to feel I’ve had all this extra time.
“I don’t really know why it has worked so well. Perhaps the immunosuppressants suit me well. Everybody has so many different reactions to the medications, and everyone has their own regimen.”
There are currently 8,124 people on the UK transplant waiting list, including 12 waiting for a heart and lung transplant.
Mitchell’s transplant is functioning well. She also had two kidney transplants from deceased donors in 1994 and 2015.
Mitchell, from Sidcup in south-east London, said: “I went to an event at Papworth and there were a couple of young women who had their heart-lung transplants recently.
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“I think it did them good and their parents good to see how long I and other people have lived.
“Very often people are told they might only get five or 10 years with a heart or a lung transplant. To be able to see me and other people who had lived for many years made a big difference to them.
“I think my story is just proof that organ donation and transplantation does work and you can live a normal life.”
Mitchell, who is married and has a stepdaughter, is backing NHS Blood and Transplant’s call for people to confirm their support for donation on the NHS organ donor register.
Marius Berman, the surgical lead for transplant at Royal Papworth hospital NHS foundation trust, said: “It’s fantastic to see Katie continuing to live life to the full, 38 years on from her transplant.
“To see it succeed so profoundly is testament to the skill of many NHS teams, the generosity of donors and the resilience of patients like Katie.
“Her journey offers real hope to others currently waiting for transplants and reminds us all of the importance of organ donation.”
