Cheering news for transplant patient

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 7

Cheering news for transplant patient

Mrs Adrienne Mackwell, the Diamond Harbour woman waiting for a heart transplant in St Vincent’s Hospital, in Sydney, received cheering news this week. “They told me that I was the only one waiting for a heart of my size — I had been a bit worried because I thought there might be a few others in my category,” she said. Mrs Mackwell, who needs a heart from a donor weighing between 59kg and 65kg, has been waiting in Sydney for four months. In that time, she has missed one donor heart that went to a man

sicker than she was. "The terrible thing is that small hearts were really common before I canfe here — they had so many small hearts they didn’t know what to do with them. But since I’ve been here they’ve had nothing but large hearts.” Mrs Mackwell said her condition was still deteriorating and she was confined to bed. “Unfortunately, I feel quite sick now — I don’t seem to be able to hold anything down. I know this vomiting is just part of the deterioration of the heart because I’ve had it before.”

Mrs Mackwell said her diet was now light jelly and milk arrowroot biscuits because these were the only things she could keep down. While she may be quite sick, Mrs Mackwell said she was feeling positive about the heart transplant. “When they gave me my monthly prescription, the doctors said they hoped it would be the last lot they had to give me. “They’re going to be doing their best to get me a heart because they know the strain we are under.”