Sudbury woman only 3rd person in Canada to donate her still-beating heart using heart-in-a-box
The organ-care system keeps the heart beating outside the body for 10 to 12 hours
A young woman in Sudbury became the third person in Canada, and first from northern Ontario, to donate her heart using new heart-in-a-box technology that keeps the organ beating for hours while it's outside the body.
Angèle Labelle face a number of health challenges throughout her life and died on May 9, 2024, at age 27.
"She had cerebral palsy. She was deaf, blind, she was epileptic, she was G-tube fed, she was non-verbal and was wheelchair-bound," said her older sister, Ashley Labelle.
But despite those challenges, Ashley said, her sister made the most of her short life.
"She just loved to be the centre of attention and we used to call her Jello Labello," she said.
Ashley said her family was surprised but pleased to learn that despite her health challenges, Angèle's heart was healthy and could be donated.
She was able to become only the third person in Canada to participate in a program from Toronto General Hospital, in collaboration with a team from the United States, to have her still-beating heart placed in an organ-care system.
"The heart gets connected up to a pump which pumps blood," said Dr. Bhanu Nalla, chief of critical care at Health Sciences North hospital in Sudbury, where the surgery was done.
"And it looks at the parameters of the heart to see how well the heart is functioning. We can inject her heart with medication, we can pace the heart, we can defibrillate and shock the heart if it needs it."
Nalla said the technology can maintain the heart for 10 to 12 hours before it's transplanted into another person.
Before this technology, Nalla said, heart donors had to be medically brain dead, with their heart continuing to beat after their brain shut off.
The organ-care system also extends the amount of time available before the heart has to be transplanted into a recipient.
A woman in the U.S. received Angèle's heart.
"Even though we don't have Angèle anymore, she wouldn't have had the quality of life. Her heart still keeps beating," said Labelle.
"So her love is still out there, her spirit still out there no matter what. And hopefully they get to feel some of that love that she had and those gifts that she gave us in life."
With files from Erika Chorostil