Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The family that needs 3 heart transplants

Three members of the same family who are all waiting for heart transplants have urged more people to register as organ donors. Twins Lauren and Katie Williams, two, and their mother Louise Snape, 29, from Middleton, Greater Manchester, suffer from the same rare heart condition. The condition, dilated cardiomyopathy, causes the heart to enlarge and become less effective.

Doctors have said Ms Snape, who was diagnosed with the condition when she was pregnant with the twins, has between 12 and 15 years to live but this could be extended with a heart transplant. Katie was diagnosed shortly after she was born, but Lauren was only diagnosed a few weeks ago. The twins' hearts are now a lot weaker than those of healthy toddlers, and they are both struggling. Matching organs must come from a recently deceased child with the same tissue match and weight as theirs.

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