Crucial 48 hours ahead as Sally gets a new heart

SALLY SLATER, the six-year-old given hours to live after suffering from a heart virus, is slowly recovering in hospital today but remains very ill after being given a new heart. Sally was in a critical condition and doctors feared she would not have survived the weekend if a matching heart donor had not been found.

Her parents will not know for 48 hours if the transplant has been a success following the seven-hour emergency surgery at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne yesterday.

Doctors confirmed that Sally, from Malham, North Yorkshire, was "very poorly but improving". A hospital spokesman said: "The truth is that without this operation we simply don't know how long she would have survived. The next 48 hours are crucial but she's in with a chance. Her parents are exhausted but delighted, as are all the staff. The miracle that they didn't dare believe would happen has happened."

Sally's parents, Jon and Bridget, have two other children, Joe, five, and Charlie, three. They have been warned the first few hours after the operation are critical and that they must remain cautious but hopeful.

Mr Slater, 36, said: "It's important not to get carried away at such an early time. She is under sedation and there is a long way to go. We have no idea where the heart came from. All I know is we will never be able to repay that family for giving my little girl a chance."

He told GMTV today that the worse thing was knowing that someone had to die for a heart to become available for his daughter.

He said: "We have seen Sally as near to death as you can possibly be and she's still near to death. We know quite a lot about how they must be feeling about losing someone you love. I think 'thank you' is inadequate."

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