A campaigning Northern Irish youngster who spent eight years waiting for a transplant has thanked his "Egyptian King" surgeon at the Freeman Hospital after finally receiving a donor heart. His father Mairtin Mac Gabhann said son Dáithí, nine, who was born with rare hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), will be able to "make the absolute most of life" now he's had his transplant.
Long wait ends with successful transplant
Dáithí had been waiting for a transplant since 2018. During that wait, the family campaigned for law in Northern Ireland to be brought into line with the rest of the UK so that the decision to donate one's organs is "opt-out". This became the case in 2023 and is known as Dáithí's law. Now, the Belfast lad has finally had a successful transplant.
Dad Mairtin said: "As soon as (Dáithí) came back from the transplant, even though he was hooked up to wires and ventilators, one thing was very clear: his pink lips, his pink fingers, his warm hands, his warm feet, his warm toes – just something that he’s never had before. His freckles were just blowing, but when he was blue, you couldn’t even see all this. We always knew he had freckles, but I mean you want to see how popping these freckles are. It’s just unbelievable."
Gratitude to Freeman Hospital staff
The dad also expressed his "extreme gratitude" to the staff at the Freeman, saying: "They are the ones who have given Dáithí hope and they’re the reason we’re here." He said Dáithí, an avid Liverpool supporter, has demoted that club's now-departed star Mo Salah in favour of their new "Egyptian King", Dr Mohamed Nassar, the heart surgeon who carried out the operation.
Mairtin said the day of the operation had been a long one, but added: "You don’t know if it’s going to go through, and then once they say that the heart’s good to go, and we’re doing it, everything was go. Within 20 minutes of that conversation Dáithí was sleeping, getting the gift of a new heart."
Life-changing gift
The family said that Dáithí's condition, hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), was something they had always seen as a "gift". The dad added: "So what we now have is that gift – still – of how fragile life can be, and with that mentality in life, along with the opportunities that this new heart will bring, this kid’s going to be unstoppable, I think. There’s the potential of that, as in he has that never-waste-a-day attitude and make the absolute most of life, and now he has actually the potential to do a lot more in life and live as close a life to normal as possible."
Mairtin Mac Gabhann was made an MBE in 2024 and Dáithí was awarded the freedom of Belfast in 2023 for their campaigning work. The soft opt-out law brought in in his name remains in place, but it remains important that people across the UK discuss their wish to donate organs after death with loved ones - as families are still in practice able to change their mind.
