A young dad told how his life was saved when he received a donor's heart - which doctors kept beating by keeping the organ in a BOX. Lee Hall, 26, was diagnosed with heart failure aged 14 and had a mechanical pump fitted five years ago to keep the blood flowing around his body. But when the pump cables got infected in May this year, doctors told him he needed a new heart and said he had just TWO DAYS to find one.
He was told that, if a suitable donor could not be found that weekend, he would have to go through the trauma of having another pump fitted in the meantime. But miraculously, an opportunity arose when the heart of a patient who had died that day was offered to Lee - and he was told it could be kept beating OUTSIDE the donor's body.
The new 'heart in a box' method can revive hearts which have been dead for up to 30 minutes - and keep them alive for up to EIGHT HOURS before an operation. It could save hundreds of lives as it DOUBLES the amount of time that hearts can be preserved outside of the body.