‘If it wasn’t for my donor’s family, I might not be here today’ – Ireland’s longest-surviving heart transplant recipient marks 38th anniversary

Andy Kavanagh, from Coolock, was 19 when he received his transplant in the Mater Hospital, where he was operated on by renowned surgeons Maurice Neligan and Freddie Wood.

Mr Kavanagh (57) has beaten the odds – the median survival after a heart transplant is around 15 years. He is now just one year behind the longest survivor.

Only a few heart transplants had been carried out when he had his life-saving surgery in 1986.

The An Post worker has since also had a kidney transplant, and went on to become a dad and grandad.

Mr Kavanagh said he is grateful every day to donor David – who was killed by a drunk driver – and his family.

“David was the same age as I was when he died, and I was lucky enough to meet his family a year after my transplant,” he said.

“I put an advertisement in the paper on the one-year anniversary to thank him and his family and then they contacted me.

“If it wasn’t for their decision, I might not be here today – organ donation saves lives.”

Mr Kavanagh was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy after a flu-type illness attacked the muscles of his heart when he was 18.

He has faced other life-threatening health battles – he was diagnosed with cancer in 2000 and had to have a kidney removed.

Because of the anti-rejection medication he was taking for his heart, his other kidney soon failed and he needed a kidney transplant, which was carried out in 2006.

Today’s News in 90 seconds – 29th May 2024

The Mater Hospital began its heart transplant programme in 1985, and it continues to be the national centre for heart and lung swaps.

More than 400 transplants have been performed there.

In the last 10 years, the programme has been expanded and now includes mechanical heart pumps, which can be implanted in patients awaiting transplants.

Dr Emer Joyce, a consultant cardiologist at the Mater, said: “Andy is one of the first of the more than 400 recipients who have received the gift of life via their organ donors through the Mater’s heart transplant service.

“Considering the prognosis now for heart-transplant patients is much better than it was when Andy received his donor heart in 1986, his journey is remarkable, especially given other obstacles he has had to overcome, including undergoing a kidney transplant.”