{"id":55617,"date":"2025-09-10T17:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/55617\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T17:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:28:08","slug":"mater-hospital-marks-40-years-since-carrying-out-irelands-first-heart-transplant-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/55617\/","title":{"rendered":"Mater hospital marks 40 years since carrying out Ireland\u2019s first heart transplant \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 10th, 1985, surgeons at the Mater hospital<\/a> in Dublin<\/a> carried out Ireland\u2019s first heart<\/a> transplant.<\/p>\n

Together with the late Maurice Neligan, renowned heart surgeon Prof Freddie Wood formed part of the team that performed the operation 40 years ago.<\/p>\n

Prof Wood recalls the excitement and novelty of transporting the precious cargo by helicopter from Co Wexford.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t anticipate that we\u2019d have to fly to get the donor. The donor came from Wexford General Hospital … I was really excited because I was flying in the helicopter. It was wonderful to fly over the Wicklow Mountains down to Wexford.\u201d<\/p>\n

After landing at the airbase in Baldonnell, Co Dublin, the young surgeon was given permission to drive the donor heart to the Mater himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe anaesthetist allowed me to drive it back in with a police escort, which we did in about 10 minutes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Two decades later, he would carry out Ireland\u2019s first lung transplant.<\/p>\n

Speaking about cardiac care in Ireland today, Prof Wood said heart intervention is more important than ever as heart interventions will be needed increasingly due to the country\u2019s ageing population<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart surgery and heart disease will continue as long as people live. Indeed, dealing with problems now because the population is getting older, it\u2019s more likely that they\u2019ll need more and more heart intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ewa Mikuta (42), from Cork, is one of 447 patients who have been given hearts as part of the hospital\u2019s transplant programme. <\/p>\n

\"EvaEva Mikuta, who underwent a heart transplant in 2018 at the Mater, revisits the hospital to celebrate its 40th anniversary of heart transplants. Photograph: Alan Betson <\/p>\n

Originally from Poland and living in Ireland since 2006, Mikuta was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy in 2017. Despite medication, her condition deteriorated, and after six months with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, she \u201ccouldn\u2019t walk. I had a problem with breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September 2018, Mikuta was referred to the Mater hospital where she was admitted for further care. She was placed on the transplant list on October 1st and received her new heart just 32 days later.<\/p>\n

Mikuta enjoyed a remarkable recovery, getting back in the saddle of her horse Unicorn four months after her transplant surgery in November 2018. She recalls being able to ride an exerciser bike in the hospital only days after surgery. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Why do overweight people have better survival rates from some cancers and heart problems?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI was still connected to all the IVs and cables and monitors but I was able to walk around the room and I was able to cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a quiet Christmas recovering at home with her husband and then 10-year-old son, Mikuta felt ready to get back to horse riding. She had named her horse from a hospital bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember sitting in the hospital and some of my friends gave me a little stuffed toy \u2013 like a unicorn \u2013 and I had nothing else to do. I decided to register his name and called him Unicorn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomcy Baby, one of Mikuta\u2019s post-heart transplant clinical nurse specialists, described following her patients\u2019 journeys as \u201can amazing feeling\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"HeartHeart transplant patient Ewa Mikuta with Tomcy Baby, a post-cardiac transplant clinical nurse specialist who looked after her. Photograph: Alan Betson<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing job and an amazing feeling. I\u2019m privileged to work with the transplant patients and to see their journey. To see how sick they were pre-transplant and how well they are doing after transplant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baby has now worked in the Mater for almost 20 years.<\/p>\n

The hospital first began its heart transplant programme in 1985 and continues to be the national centre for heart and lung transplants.<\/p>\n

Prof Emer Joyce, consultant cardiologist at the Mater, said the median life expectancy after transplant is now 15 years, with \u201coutcomes getting much better\u201d for patients.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0A revolution in heart disease? Focus shifts to staying ahead of the blockageOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cEwa and our other recipients just show how organ donation saves lives. None of this would be possible without phenomenal generosity in the face of unimaginable grief.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully we are seeing our recipients live into their second and third decade, and even touching their fourth decade like Andy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Andy Kavanagh, from Coolock in Dublin, was one the first patients to undergo the surgery in 1986 and is Ireland\u2019s oldest surviving heart transplant patient.<\/p>\n

Also one of the longest surviving patients in the world, Kavanagh joined Mikuta and other patients at the hospital on Wednesday to celebrate the transplant programme\u2019s milestone anniversary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On September 10th, 1985, surgeons at the Mater hospital in Dublin carried out Ireland\u2019s first heart transplant. Together…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[18,135,1695,11460,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-55617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-heart-disease","11":"tag-heart-health","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}