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Fiona Coote is a heart transplant recipient who, upon undergoing surgery, by Dr. Victor Chang, at the age of 14 on 8 April 1984, became Australia's youngest heart transplant recipient. [1] [2] While Coote was the fourth transplant recipient in Australia, she is only the second to survive for a significant period. [3] [4]
Born on 3 January 1970 and growing up on a family farm, Galen, 8 km (5 mi) from Manilla in northern New South Wales, Coote attended a private Catholic school near Tamworth. [5] She married in 1996. [6] [7]
The procedure was performed by the Chinese–Australian cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Victor Chang. [8] The urgency was due to complications of viral-induced tonsilitis that dramatically weakened her heart. [2] [8] The surgery was performed at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney. [8] When she later began rejecting the first heart, Coote was forced to endure a second transplant, which took place in 1986. [2] She has enjoyed good health since. [8]
Much of Coote's life has been spent in the public eye and she has worked for numerous charitable organisations including the Victor Chang Foundation and the Starlight Foundation. [5] In 1999, Coote was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in recognition of her public awareness promotion of heart disease, and for her work raising funds for seriously and terminally ill children. [9] Coote has also worked in promotions for Willow Valley, a cereal manufacturer, and Dairy Farmers. [10]
As a result of her fame, Coote was approached to appear in the Australian soap Neighbours . Despite beginning rehearsals, Coote ultimately decided acting was not for her.[ citation needed ] Channel Ten publicly blamed the back down on illness [11] but Coote later attributed it to the associated pressure to participate in interviews and publicity for the show. [5] Coote has made a number of television appearances, including appearing in a segment on Burke's Backyard .
In 2001 a rose was named in honour of Coote. Called "Fiona's Wish", it is a hybrid tea (bush rose) and the bi-coloured blooms are cherry red, edged with gold reverse. [12]
Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transported from a donor site to another location. Organs and/or tissues that are transplanted within the same person's body are called autografts. Transplants that are recently performed between two subjects of the same species are called allografts. Allografts can either be from a living or cadaveric source.
Alan Bond was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history and also his criminal conviction that saw him serve four years in prison. He is also remembered for bankrolling the successful challenge for the 1983 America's Cup, the first time the New York Yacht Club had lost it in its 132-year history. He is also the founder of Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia.
Hand transplantation, or simply hand transplant, is a surgical procedure to transplant a hand from one human to another. The donor hand, usually from a brain-dead donor, is transplanted to a recipient amputee. Most hand transplants to date have been performed on below-elbow amputees, although above-elbow transplants are gaining popularity. Hand transplants were the first of a new category of transplants where multiple organs are transplanted as a single functional unit, now termed vascularized composite allotransplantation or VCA.
Victor Peter Chang was a Chinese-born Australian cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation in Australia.
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St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney is a leading tertiary referral hospital and research facility located in Darlinghurst, Sydney. Though funded and integrated into the New South Wales state public health system, it is operated by St Vincent's Health Australia. It is affiliated with the University of Tasmania College of Health and Medicine and the University of New South Wales Medical School.
The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI) is an Australian non-profit medical research facility that is dedicated to finding cures for cardiovascular disease. With headquarters located in Darlinghurst, New South Wales, the research hub is home to more than 20 research laboratories and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute Innovation Centre. The institute's mission is "the relief of pain and suffering, and the promotion of well-being, through an understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of cardiovascular disease". Its key research is focused on the prevention and treatment of various heart diseases, including arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, heart attack, heart failure, high cholesterol, obesity, spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) and stroke.
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