15-Year-Old Is 1st Child in the UK to Receive Heart From Deceased Donor

By Inside Edition Staff

Updated: 2:08 AM PST, February 28, 2021

Anna Hadley gets to be a normal teenager, after advances in organ transfers saved her life.

The 15-year-old was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy after collapsing in gym class.

In 2020, she made medical history by being the first pediatric patient in the U.K. to receive a heart transplant from an already deceased donor.

"I feel so lucky. I’m just blessed to be able to get this second chance at life. To know that I have a future like my friends and family do," Hadley said.

Organ donation after circulatory death has been performed on adult patients, and now British surgeons have used the technique to save the lives of six children.

Using the Organ Care System, or OCS machine, built by us company transmedics, doctors believe they have a better chance of successfully using organs from someone who has already passed away.

The machine keeps the heart warm and pumping blood, essentially keeping the heart alive and giving transfer teams more time to get the organ into a recipient.

The OCS heart machine is currently under review by the FDA, and is limited to ‘investigational use’ in the United States, but it is commercially available in Europe and Australia.

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15-Year-Old Is 1st Child in the UK to Receive Heart From Deceased Donor