She had been diagnosed aged 11 with a rare condition called Eisenmenger Syndrome – congenital heart disease in which the pressure in the pulmonary arteries is high, causing an increased resistance to blood flow through the lungs. This leads to irreversible lung damage and heart failure.
Before her transplant she was so ill she could barely climb the stairs but felt ‘immediately better’ when waking up after her operation.
Katie is now one of the longest surviving patients in the world ever for this type of transplant and more than three decades later has had a career, got married and had two kidney transplants.
During a special visit to the hospital on Thursday, September 29, she met-up with her surgeon, Professor John Wallwork, now chairman of Royal Papworth Hospital, and members of the transplant team who have looked after her since.
“Thanks to organ donation, I was given the gift of a normal life,” she said. “It has allowed me to do normal things I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.
“I can’t really remember a time before I had a transplant because it was so long ago, other than the time immediately before when I was really very ill and I couldn’t walk up the stairs.
“It took me about 30 minutes to get up or down the stairs and then that was me for the day, I would stay there.
“I was told after my transplant I would feel better and I felt that immediately. I was pink rather than blue and could breathe so easily.”
At the time she was diagnosed with Eisenmenger Syndrome there was no treatment for the disease and most patients died between the age of 30 to 50.
That changed when, in 1984, a team at the then Papworth Hospital performed Europe’s first successful heart-lung transplant, a team led by Professor Wallwork.
“Without him I wouldn’t be here,” Katie reflected after the reunion.
“The medical team, the transplant team, my donor and their family, none of this would be possible without them.
“The generosity of one family at a difficult time has turned into a chance of life for me. I’ve always worked full-time and just got on with life.”
Professor Wallwork said that at the time of the operation there was not the experience to predict for how long people may live.
“We didn’t have survival data because it was so new, but we had people getting sicker and sicker and needed a transplant otherwise they would die.
“We can’t do any of the work without organ donors – they are selfless in turning tragedy into something good.
“Katie was coming towards the end of her life at the age of 15. To see her now this many years later having led a good life, not just having survived, is wonderful.”
In addition to her heart-lung transplant at Papworth in 1987, Katie has also had two kidney transplants from deceased donors, in 1994 and 2015, at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
