The best gift ever: Family’s joy for heart op tot

Dec 23 2008 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Niamh Walker

CHRISTMAS has come early for little Niamh Walker – in the shape of a new heart.

The two-year-old is back at home with her family in Fenay Bridge after becoming one of the youngest people in the country to have a successful transplant.

Mum and dad, Sam Lee and Simon Walker, both 27, are over the moon.

“It’s just a massive relief, especially just before Christmas,” Sam said.

“It couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Niamh, of Tithefields, caught an infection when she was 10 weeks old that led to a condition called dilated myocardiopathy.

It meant her heart muscle was enlarged to the size of a grown man and wasn’t pumping blood effectively.

As a result she was susceptible to infection.

Niamh became the youngest girl on the heart transplant register and, for the next two years, the family waited for the call that could save her life.

There were three false alarms before a suitable donor was eventually found last month.