Kaylee Davidson-Olley (born 1987) was the United Kingdom's first successful

heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...

baby when she received a replacement heart at less than one year of age. In 2017 she celebrated her 30th year after the transplant operation; it was her 30th year as the longest surviving heart transplant baby in Europe. The operation was performed by cardiothoracic surgeon, Christopher McGregor at the

Freeman Hospital The Freeman Hospital is an 800-bed tertiary referral centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The hospital is managed by the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is a teaching hospital for Newcastle University. History The Fre ...

, Newcastle, which became one of only two UK centres performing transplants in children, and the main hospital in the UK carrying out transplants for adults born with congenital heart disease. She went on to become an advocate of the organ donor register and in 2013 won the gold medal for the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

race at the

World Transplant Games The World Transplant Games (WTG) are an international multi-sport event, occurring every two years, organized by the World Transplant Games Federation (WTGF). The Games promote amateur sport amongst organ transplant recipients, living donors and d ...

Early life

Kaylee Davidson-Olley was born in 1987. She was raised in

Houghton-le-Spring Houghton-le-Spring ( ) is a town in the Sunderland district, in Tyne and Wear, England which has its recorded origins in Norman times. Historically in County Durham, it is now administered as part of the Tyne and Wear county. It lies betw ...

, County Durham. Her mother is Carol Olley. As an infant, she was diagnosed with a

cardiomyopathy Cardiomyopathy is a group of primary diseases of the heart muscle. Early on there may be few or no symptoms. As the disease worsens, shortness of breath, feeling tired, and swelling of the legs may occur, due to the onset of heart failure. A ...

and for six weeks prior to her heart transplant, was severely ill in the Freeman Hospital's intensive care unit.

Heart transplantation

Davidson-Olley's heart transplantation was performed on 14 October 1987 by surgeon Christopher McGregor at the

, Newcastle, when Davidson-Olley was either four or five months old. McGregor had previously transplanted a heart into an adult woman in May 1985, the recipient surviving for 25 years. Ten days after the transplant operation, the media were allowed admission to the intensive care unit where Davidson-Olley was a patient. Subsequently, the Freeman Hospital became one of only two centres in Britain performing transplants on children, and the main hospital in Britain carrying out transplants for adults born with congenital heart disease.

Advocacy

Davidson-Olley has campaigned on behalf of the organ donor register, saying in her 25th year of survival that she was only alive "because of the generosity of a family who made that important decision about organ donation, a decision that saved my life". In 2013, at the

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, South Africa, Davidson-Olley ran the

and won the gold medal. In 2017, Davidson-Olley observed the 30th anniversary of the heart transplant procedure and her 30th year as the longest surviving heart transplant baby in Europe. To celebrate, she and the staff from the Freeman Hospital, members of families of people who have had transplants, the president of the World Transplant Games Federation and her surgeon, took the "Walk for Life", starting at Baltic Square, stopping at the Copthorne Hotel and then making their way across Newcastle's Millennium Bridge. McGregor stated that he had "followed Kaylee's progress and achievements over the last 30 years" and was "delighted to walk with Kaylee and share her special day and the success of the paediatric heart and lung transplant programme". In May 2019, Davidson-Olley was named as one of four local heroes that had their name cast in a bronze plaque, to be placed permanently by the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

. The following year, she appealed for the public to adhere to

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

rules during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson-Olley, Kaylee 1987 births Living people Heart transplant recipients People from Houghton-le-Spring British women 1987 in medicine