'Extra special' Christmas for heart-op mum
Thursday November 19 2009
A MOTHER of four spoke last night of how Christmas will be "extra special" this year after she was discharged from hospital following a life-saving heart operation -- the first of its kind in the country.
Elaine O'Hara (37) had been suffering from a heart malfunction for a number of years but was not suitable for a heart transplant.
However, she underwent a unique heart operation in the Mater Hospital in Dublin last August and a new type of artificial heart pump was surgically implanted in her chest.
She was discharged from hospital yesterday.
Ms O'Hara, from Tallaght in Dublin, is the first in Ireland to receive this type of surgery and is looking forward to a bright future with her young family.
She said this Christmas will "be an extra special one because I'm still here to celebrate it".
- DENISE CLARKE
Irish Independent
