Urgent calls for heart donor as ‘perfect’ husband and mechanic left with just three weeks maximum to live

The next two to three weeks will be most crucial for 48-year-old mechanic Kwok Ho-wing to receive a heart transplant as Queen Mary Hospital appealed to Hongkongers to donate an O blood type heart. 

Kwok’s blood type is O positive. He is 1.68 meters tall and weighs 57 kg. He can accept any heart from a donor with an O blood type and standing at least 1.6 meters. 

Kwok’s own heart is only functioning at around 20 percent and he is now at the top of the city’s heart transplant waiting list, the hospital said on Wednesday. 

Oswald Lee, consultant of the hospital’s Department of Cardio-thoracic Surgery, said Kwok first sought medical attention last December due to breathlessness and chest pain. 

He was admitted to Tuen Mun Hospital and was later diagnosed with ischemic cardiomyopathy and cardiomegaly. The former is a condition that sees the heart failing to pump blood effectively which leads to ischemic damage to the myocardium; and the latter is a condition where the heart becomes unusually large, experiencing further difficulty pumping blood. 

Kwok has been using an artificial heart-lung device when he was admitted in order to maintain his blood circulation, Lee added. 

Wong Ka-lam, a heart transplant physician at Grantham Hospital, said Kwok suffered issues with cardiac vessels as well as heart arrhythmia that has greatly damaged his heart. His blood supply function has also deteriorated. 

Wong also said the hospital doesn’t have any plans to seek a suitable donor’s heart from the mainland at the moment, but pointed out that the Hospital Authority will coordinate if there are any available outside of Hong Kong. 

The hospital will search for a suitable heart in the city first in accordance with existing mechanisms, Wong said. 

Kwok’s wife said their daughter was shocked after seeing her father in intensive care and calls to inquire of her father’s condition after school everyday. 

She added that Kwok is a hard-working man who goes see his parents every weekend and takes care of all the chores at home. 

She understands that donating a heart is a tough decision for the donor’s family but hopes some Samaritans would be able to help her husband complete the transplant.