Wigan heart transplant dad out of surgery

Dave Hughes, 32, has bravely battled through a 12-hour operation to be given a new heart after he was born with a life-threatening congenital condition.

The dad-of-one from Whelley received the call yesterday morning following an agonising wait for a heart to become available, and immediately travelled up to Newcastle for the transplant.

He went into theatre at around 12.30am this morning and his family have said that although he now has the new organ - there has been a complication which means he cannot be brought round for another seven days.

Louise Sedgwick, 24, said: “There’s good and bad news. Everything went well, the heart is working well but before they were going to bring him out of theatre he had a reaction to one of the drugs,.

“This means they are having to put him on a heart and lung machine and keep his chest open for about a week, so a very long sleep for him.

“The surgeon said this can happen and he just wants to give the new heart a rest and the best chance once they’re ready to wake him up.

“They are keeping him in theatre for a few hours until he is stable enough to move.”

Dave, dad to 18-month-old George, has continuously campaigned for more people to sign the organ donor register after waiting for years for a new organ.

He was told five years ago that he would only have five years to live if he did not receive a new heart.

MPs are today debating whether to pass a bill changing the organ donation system in England to “opt-out”.

Dave and Louise have publicly backed the campaign, saying that anyone would sign up if they had feared for the life of a loved one.

To sign the NHS organ donor register visit https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/