Parents' joy as Northampton teen son undergoes successful life-saving heart transplant

Brogan Lowdon after his operation on Tuesday

Brogan Loudon, 17, of Weston Favell, became ill three years ago after he suffered a suspected heart attack aged 14.

But investigations discovered that in fact a virus may have attacked his heart and he was put on an emergency waiting list before undergoing a life-saving transplant at Papworth Hospital on Wednesday (February, 22).

Tony Loudon, Brogan’s dad, said: “The road to where we are now has been emotional, to say the least, numerous trips in and out of the hospital, times of worry and sadness, tears and heartache seeing our boy deteriorating and not being able to control the situation.

“As parents, we took on the responsibility of provider and protector and you automatically become that when you bring someone into this world but that got taken away from us and it was very hard to accept.

"Brogan appears to be doing well but the credit goes to our amazing family and equally amazing friends. We could have never got through this without you, it has been so, so hard and you have kept us going."

Over the course of three years, Brogan has been diagnosed with of 'end-stage congestive heart failure', which means that his heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly.

This sometimes occurs because the heart has become too weak and as a result of this Brogan suffered from breathlessness and exhaustion and missed out on learning to drive after his seventeenth birthday.

Brogan's mum, Lorraine is now urging other youngsters to get their hearts checked over if they are suffering from regular palpitations.

She said: "I can't stress it enough - go and get your heart checked.

"It was like Brogan's heart was going to jump out of his chest, that's not an exaggeration. He had a t-shirt on and his dad filmed it to show the doctor, it was like he had run a marathon."

Brogan's life has been put on hold for three years and two family friends have since started a GoFundMe page and will take part in a charity skydive on April 28 at 5pm to raise money for the Loudon family in a bid to send them on a much-needed holiday.

Emily Reeve, senior cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “If you are experiencing heart palpitations or other unusual symptoms, you should go and see your GP.”

To donate visit: www.gofundme.com/ty6z5-have-a-heart