A STORY FROM HEART RESEARCH AUSTRALIA

How would you feel if you had 5 years left to live?

     Joye remembers the moment when she felt like she was negotiating for her life. It was just one week before her 50th birthday, when her cardiologist gave her the news that Joye – a fit and healthy woman with no family history had heart failure and the prognosis wasn’t good. 

Joye asked her cardiologist, “So does that affect my life expectancy?” 

Her cardiologist’s look said it all. 

“So, am I looking at 10 years? 

…..5 years?” 

Her cardiologist reply was “Maybe… if you are lucky” ... 
...and then she got up and gave Joye a cuddle.

Can you imagine getting this news? How would you cope? 

It’s scary to think about, but this is the reality faced by over 10,000 Australians every year. People like Joye, who are told they have heart failure and may end up needing a heart transplant to survive. 

People who are left waiting for one of around only 100 hearts available for transplant every year.

And, this is why Dr Carmine Gentile and his team have created a heart patch with a 3D bioprinter, using a patient’s own unique stem cells, taken from their blood. A patch which could be placed on their heart to repair the damage and replace the need for heart transplants in the future. 

It’s a truly exciting development which could provide future hope for all of those patients with heart failure. Not just for the lucky 100. 

The crucial next step for Dr Gentile’s team is to successfully transplant these cells onto a patient’s heart during surgery. 

So, we need your help. This Christmas can you please join us by donating to heart research to help Dr Gentile and our other researchers to provide future hope for those, like Joye, with heart failure. 

Now that’s a truly worthwhile Christmas gift! 

Thank you for your generosity! 

Nicci Dent 
CEO Heart Research Australia