A young dad sent home to die when doctors refused him a life-saving operation has been given new hope after the Daily Record forced a U-turn from health chiefs.
Kris Simpson has end-stage heart failure and was told the NHS would only offer palliative care – despite a specialist saying he was suitable for a mechanical pump that could offer him a chance of survival.
After we revealed Kris’s plight, the family were called into a meeting with Scotland’s top heart experts at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank – and told they will now look at options to try to prolong his life.
Kris has a rare autoimmune condition called Antiphospholipid syndrome. He has suffered a series of strokes and two massive heart attacks – and his heart could fail at any time.
Doctors are now speaking to specialists in his condition from across the world to devise a treatment plan using a cocktail of drugs and the possible installation of a pacemaker.
Heartbroken dad denied life-saving operation by NHS chiefs and given six months to live
Sadly they were given the news that the heart pump they thought could save Kris is no longer an option because his condition could cause clotting and internal bleeding.
Kris, dad to Bethany, five, and three-year-old Isla-Rose, went with mum Helen, 53, to last week’s appointment at the Golden Jubilee after his case was transferred to their care by NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
Scots twin babies born with holes in their hearts contract serious infections in neonatal unit
Helen said: “We were told the way Kris was treated at Crosshouse Hospital was completely unacceptable and that the whole way it had been handled wasn’t right.
“If we hadn’t turned to the Daily Record there is no way Kris would have been offered this help.
“Doctors wrote him off in January and told him he had just six months to live.
“This news means the world to him and he now has a second chance at life.”
The 32-year-old, from Kilmarnock, says the news is the miracle he has been praying for, adding: “Thanks to the Record I have a fighting chance.”
