Med hjärtat för livet

Hi. My name is Inger S. and I was born in 1956 and I live in Piteå which is in northern Sweden.  It all started in the autumn of ’13 when I was on holiday with children and grandchildren in Portugal with a stubborn cough that later turned out to be heart failure.  At the turn of the year -13-14 an ultrasound was done and then the doctor sees that my heart is very thickened.  The doctor who made the ultrasound so that I show a heart similar to Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTRv amyloidosis), also known as familial amyloidosis with polyneuropathy (FAP) or Skellefte’s disease, which is an inherited disease that causes symptoms from, among other things, peripheral nerves, heart  stomach and intestines, eyes and kidneys. So based on this, biopsy and aptitude tests are taken and I am a carrier and have developed the disease at the same time, so you make a unique discovery, namely that I have an unusual mutation GLU54LEU that you do not know before, we are only 4 in the world that carry that mutation  and we are related to each other.  But then everything goes very fast already in the spring -14 I am on investigation at Norrland University Hospital in Umeå and then for qualification for heart transplant at Sahlgrenska in Gothenburg.  In October -14 I get my new heart and in September-15 I get my new liver.  A liver domino transplant was done so a man with severe cancer got my liver so it feels good both to be able to receive but also to be able to give.  Today I live a good life despite my illness has just finished a three year art line at Framnäs folk high school so now I paint with my heart for life.  All the best to you all

Med hjärtat för livet – Inger S. – Sweden