Heart Recipient Muhammad Fikri Goes Home

KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 (Bernama) -- Muhammad Fikri Nor Azmi just wanted to go home -- and play basketball. He got his wish today.
Malaysia's first mechanical heart recipient, who received a normal heart on Dec 15 last year, was discharged from the National Heart Institute (IJN), Wednesday.
Muhammad Fikri, 16, had been at the IJN for seven months and a week. He was first fitted with a mechanical heart, known as Implantable Ventricular Assist Device (IVAD), while waiting for a donor.
The 16-year-old Muhammad Fikri, once an avid basketball player who has represented his school, SM Bandar Tun Hussein Onn 2, Cheras, is also looking forward to starting school on Monday.
But he needs to wear a mask, said heart and lung transplant surgeon Dr Mohd Izani Md Taib. He said that though the Form Four student was healthy and could do anything, including physical activities, he had to be careful of infections such as coughs and flu.
Muhammad Fikri also has to make frequent visits to the IJN for follow-up checks and undergo biopsy procedures, at least over the next six months.
"This is a routine procedure for all heart recipients to make sure that the body doesn't reject the new heart," Dr Mohd Izani told reporters.
Muhammad Fikri's mother, Fatimah Osman, was elated when told that her son could go home, Wednesday.
"We just want to go home. We also want to thank the doctors and IJN as a whole and those who prayed for Fikri," she said, fighting back tears of joy and relief.
Although the identity of Muhammad Fikri's donor and the donor's family was kept confidential, Fatimah said: "They will always be in our prayers." Also present to bid farewell to Muhammad Fikri was IJN Board Chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Khatib Abdul Hamid and IJN CEO Mohd Radzif Mohd Yunus.