Passage West father receives life-saving heart transplant
It's a Christmas miracle for Adam Mohamed Lafdil, a father of three from Passage West. After a successful heart transplant last month, doctors expect that the 36 year old will return home to his loving family this week.
The Cork Airport security worker says that after months of being in the Mater Hospital away from his loved ones, he can’t wait to get back to Cork.
In June, Mohamed became seriously ill and after spending time in CUH he was transferred to The Mater Hospital in Dublin. Initially, it seemed that he was responding positively to medication, however his situation soon deteriorated. “In September the doctors told me that they didn’t think my heart was working anymore and that I needed a transplant,” he told the Cork Independent.
“It was a shock and very difficult as I was alone here in Dublin and my family were in Cork. I was put on the transplant list on 18 October, but it was really hard mentally and physically because you don’t know when you are going to get a suitable heart. There are people that have to wait months or years,” he said.
A few weeks later Mohamed's hopes were shattered when he believed a heart had become available. He had to prepare for surgery, even shaving his head, but unfortunately, it turned out the heart wasn't suitable.
However, on Saturday 11 November, he got the news he and his family had been hoping for. “One of the doctors came to me, she was talking differently this time, she said it was 80 or 90 per cent that they were going to be able to do the heart transplant. I was nervous and scared but the doctors were absolutely amazing,” he said.
It was six days before Mohamed woke from the successful surgery and his recovery is going well. “When you have a heart transplant it’s like you are a newborn. I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t count from one to ten, and I couldn’t write. But it’s been a month but I’m doing good.”
He says his partner Niamhmarie and and children, Noah, Joshua and Jessica were absolutely thrilled to have him back.
“My family were so happy because they were really worried. My kids asked questions like ‘You had no heart for a while, how did you survive?’.I tried to explain that to them, and they also wanted know where my new heart came from,” he said.
Mohamed expressed his sincere gratitude at receiving a donor heart and wants to encourage others to consider becoming organ donors. “My plan is to encourage people to become donors because it saves so many people’s lives, myself included. I heard that the family of the heart donor are happy that I got the heart and they would like to meet me. I would have no problem with that because the donor saved my life,” he added.
The Passage West community rallied behind Mohamed and Niamhmarie, with a GoFundMe page set up by a family friend to support the couple. Mohamed expressed his deep gratitude for the overwhelming support from friends and colleagues in their local community.
And although there is a long road to recovery, for now Mohamed says that he is just looking forward to being home for Christmas. “It’s nearly been six months since I’ve been outside. I’m so happy that I’m going back home to my family and back to Cork,” he added.