 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Malorie Blackman |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's |
| Publisher | Corgi Books (UK) Doubleday (US) |
Published in English | 1997 |
| Pages | 256 |
Pig-Heart Boy is a children's novel by Malorie Blackman, which was first published in 1997. It shows the life of a teenage boy who undergoes a heart transplant. It was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and adapted into a television series, which was broadcast by Children's BBC in 1999. [1]
Thirteen-year-old Cameron Kelsey has a serious heart condition and urgently needs a transplant. He has twice been turned down for the operation, and his father secretly contacts transgenics expert Dr. Richard Bryce. Cameron's parents argue about his father's secrecy, and it transpires that the operation would involve Cameron being transplanted with a pig's heart. Cameron finds out, and deciding that he wants to see his fourteenth birthday and the rest of his life, chooses to have the transplant. Although Cameron is sworn to secrecy about the nature of the transplant, he tells his best friend Marlon.
Cameron is delighted when his mother announces her pregnancy, and proceeds to record videos for his unborn sibling in case he dies during the operation. The transplant goes ahead and is successful. Cameron is furious, however, when he discovers that Marlon has told his parents who in turn have told the newspapers about the pig heart. Cameron is discharged from hospital, but he is now famous and his family are harassed by the media and animal rights protesters. Having made up with Marlon, Cameron is out with friends when a lady pours a bucket of pig blood over him.
Cameron always liked swimming, and decides he is fit enough to swim again. He spends more time at the swimming pool, trying to touch the bottom like his friends did. When he finally manages it, he gets trapped underneath the surface and believes that he is going to drown. However, Marlon saves his life. Dr. Bryce tells Cameron that his new heart is being rejected by his body, and that he will need another transplant. Cameron refuses, as he is sick of the attention. However, when his grandmother dies, he realises that life is important, and he wants to be around for his younger brother or sister, whom he has decided to call Alex.
In 1999, the BBC made a six-part television adaptation of the novel. Although the television adaptation was overall quite faithful to the book, some aspects were changed, including some characters' names (for example, Dr. Bryce is labelled Professor Rae in the television version), and also the fact that Cameron had not been the first patient to have had a pig transplant with Dr. Bryce/Professor Rae. The series also ended with Alex being born, while the book merely ends with Cameron's decision to accept the second heart transplant.
The television adaptation won the BAFTA Award for Children's Drama in 2000. [2]
Christiaan Neethling Barnard was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation. On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of accident victim Denise Darvall into the chest of 54-year-old Louis Washkansky who regained full consciousness and was able to talk easily with his wife, before dying eighteen days later of pneumonia, largely brought on by the anti-rejection drugs that suppressed his immune system. Barnard had told Mr. and Mrs. Washkansky that the operation had an 80% chance of success, an assessment which has been criticised as misleading. Barnard's second transplant patient, Philip Blaiberg, whose operation was performed at the beginning of 1968, returned home from the hospital and lived for a year and a half.
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