At just 17 years old, Taylor Keepa was like every other teenager, full of plans for the future beyond the walls of Rototuna Senior High School.
But undergoing a heart transplantation was never one of them.
Taylor was in his final year of school in 2023, working a real estate internship and a part-time job at McDonald’s when he began experiencing symptoms like shortness of breath and fatigue.
“I would have to take a break on my walk to school and even just doing nothing, I would struggle to breathe,” he told 1News.
What followed was a frustrating series of visits to the doctors and Waikato Hospital, where he was initially diagnosed with pneumonia.
“I just got worse and worse. I couldn’t get out of bed, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t do things by myself, and I was just wondering like, ‘Is it really pneumonia?'”
A week later, Taylor and his mother Michelle were given a devastating diagnosis – left and right ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy, a rare condition which was causing his heart to fail.
“Before we knew it, that’s when we were getting a chopper from Waikato Hospital to Auckland Hospital and then the very next day he was put on life support; he was put on an ECMO machine that took over the function of his heart,” Michelle said.
“As a parent, as his mother, there was nothing I could do. And I just had to watch it all happen.”
Taylor was now facing the biggest battle of his life.
The journey to transplantation
What followed was a series of surgeries to keep the teenager’s heart beating as he awaited transplantation.
Just days after being rushed to Auckland Hospital, doctors inserted a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) – a mechanical pump that helps circulate blood from his heart to the rest of his body.
“It’s kind of like having two satchels and they both cross over you and you kind of wear them like bags. There are two wires that attach to your heart and sort of come out of your stomach area and funnel into these batteries,” he said.
The VAD operates on two settings, including a portable mode which has a 12-hour battery life. Overnight, Taylor would have to plug the batteries – still attached to him – into a power outlet while he slept.
“They definitely did not make it easy. You would constantly be thinking about them. Like, am I going to lose battery? When did I put these in? Did I charge them correctly?” he said.
Taylor was eventually put on the urgent donor list.
“When you’re put on the urgent list, that’s basically saying there isn’t much longer we need this now”.
But seven months later on New Years Day 2024, during an intense card game in the hospital cafeteria with his dad, Taylor finally got the call.
“The doctor said, ‘I don’t want to get your hopes up, but we have found a possible match’.
“It was kind of like a ‘finally’ type moment, you know. It was really exciting.”
The following day, a heart was transported from Australia using a Hypothermic Oxygenated Perfusion box.
The HOPE box
A Hypothermic Oxygenated Perfusion box – also known as a HOPE box by staff at Auckland City Hospital – is a specialised device used in organ transplantations.
The technology helps preserve oxygen and blood flow to a heart, keeping the donor organ viable for longer than other traditional methods.
“It’s basically like a really fancy version of a chilly bin. It has a cooling device that keeps the heart at 8C and then it is perfused with blood and nutrients to provide exactly what the heart needs,” said Dr Jamie O’Loughlin, clinical lead for the Auckland Heart and Lung Transplant programme.
“The cool temperature keeps the metabolic demands low but providing oxygen and blood keeps the heart in the best condition that we can prior to transplant.”
The device was part of a clinical trial at Auckland City Hospital from March 2021 to December 2022 and has been used for 18 transplantations in New Zealand – five of those involving donor hearts flown in from Australia.
Dr O’Loughlin described the HOPE box as a “game changer”.
“We’re not up against a time frame knowing that the donor heart is deteriorating over time so it gives us a lot of leeway in terms of how fast we’re progressing the operation, and the surgeons can take their time and do it really carefully,” she said.
But this type of technology doesn’t come cheap, with each use of the box costing $63,000.
The technology is currently funded through donations given to the Auckland Hospital Foundation, which means patients must meet strict criteria to qualify.
Advocates hope the Government will one day help fund the device so more people can access it.
“It’s enabling the teams to build the capacity, enabling the teams to build the care pathways, enabling business cases to be put forward, and then for it to be adopted in government budgets,” said Candy Schroder, the director of the Auckland Hospital Foundation.
‘I don’t think there are enough words’
The last thing Taylor remembers before his heart transplantation was fist-bumping the surgeons and anaesthesiologists.
“He’d become quite popular in there,” his mum said.
Twelve hours later, Taylor had received what he calls “the gift of life”.
“I remember waking up a couple of days later and I was really high,” he laughed.
“People were coming in and saying hi to me and I was like, ‘Why is your hair blue?'”
After surgery he was transferred to Greenlane Hospital’s Hearty Towers for recovery and rehabilitation, and to connect with other New Zealanders who had also received heart transplants.
A year and a half on, Taylor is 19 years old and thriving.
“I’m doing pretty awesome,” he said.
“I’m studying again and I’m working now”.
When asked about the donor who gave him his heart, he said, “I like to think their life continues on in me”.
His gratitude is echoed by his mother and his wider whānau.
“Every day, I wake up and I’m just like ‘I still have my son’, you know? I still have my son, and life has a different outlook. I’m thankful for everything I have,” Michelle said.
“Honestly, I don’t think there are enough words to describe how grateful I am,” Taylor added.
“It’s really hard to describe this feeling.”
