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Ma Cheuk-long is in Queen Mary Hospital. Photo: Felix Wong

After 11 operations and a new heart, 20-year-old Chinese University student battling myocarditis is finally on the mend

Condition of Ma Cheuk-long said to be ‘encouraging’ after coming off heart support machine

The condition of a 20-year-old Chinese University student who was just weeks ago on the verge of dying from heart failure is finally improving following last month’s organ transplant and nearly a dozen operations, according to his doctors.

On Sunday, Queen Mary Hospital heart surgeon Dr Timmy Au Wing-kuk revealed that Ma Cheuk-long had successfully been taken off a cardiopulmonary support machine at about 11am on Saturday and that his vital signs were satisfactory.

Ma, a music-loving second year anthropology student, contracted myocarditis in May, a viral inflammation of the heart muscle that weakens its function.

Though still requiring the assistance of a breathing machine, Au said Ma could “understand commands and cooperate well” with instructions from medical staff and was “more and more awake” by the hour.

“He has been stable with good blood pressure and a steady heart rate. All vital signs are also satisfactory,” Au said. “Although I cannot guarantee he will be 100 per cent safe and well from now ... his condition in the past 48 hours has been tremendously impressive and encouraging.”

Au said Ma had received a total of eight major heart operations and three cardiac catheter ­interventions since he was first ­admitted to Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei on April 21, with a stomach ache, fever and low blood pressure.

After being diagnosed with myocarditis, Ma was put on an artificial heart and lung machine but his condition continued to deteriorate. He was transferred to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam five days later, but showed no signs of recovery and was facing ­terminal heart ­failure.

With a new heart the only way to ensure his survival – he had then been surviving on a feeding tube and mechanical pump for more than a month – his family and girlfriend made a tearful citywide plea for an organ donation.

He was placed on the city’s transplant list but with the clock ticking, doctors warned that if he had a stroke or developed an ­infection, he would have been unsuitable for a transplant. Doctors finally secured a heart from a recently deceased 50-year-old female patient at the hospital on June 19.

Put under the 24-hour watch of a crack specialist team that included Au, cardiothoracic surgery consultant Dr Cally Ho Ka-lai and Grantham Hospital chief cardiologist Dr Katherine Fan Yue-yan, the transplant lasted 10 hours and was a success. But several more operations to remove blood clots in his new heart were required in the days after.

Au described the beginning of his patient’s slow road to recovery as a “great triumph” for Ma, his family, the hospital’s transplant team and medical staff.

On behalf of Ma’s family and the heart transplant team, Au expressed his sincere thanks and gratitude to the media for helping with the appeal and making the transplant happen. Responding to inquiries, Ma’s father told reporters that his son remained in a high-risk situation but hoped he would make a speedy recovery.

Au’s doctors believe he will be fit enough to be transferred to a regular hospital ward after two weeks.

Myocarditis, which is caused by a viral infection, is understood to occur mostly in younger people, but up to 95 per cent of patients will recover eventually.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: After 11 operations and new heart, student on the mend
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