Woman receives second heart transplant at UW — 27 years after first
Seattle KIRO 7 News
By: Amy Clancy
Updated:
In the late 1980s while living on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, Victoria Doyle knew something was seriously wrong. She couldn’t run, had strange heart rates and lived in fear of passing out, especially while driving. “I really thought I’d be dead by 30,” said Doyle – who now lives in Browns Point near Tacoma. “I knew there was something wrong for a long time.”
Her doctors at the University of Washington Medical Center eventually diagnosed cardiomyopathy and put Doyle on the list for a heart transplant, which was performed by Dr. Edward Verrier nearly three decades ago.
“Victoria was very sick back in 1991,” Verrier remembered. At the time, he expected the transplant to extend Doyle’s life “probably between five and 10 years.”
Doyle’s transplanted heart lasted 27 years. MORE