Post-mortem report reveals Hui Yi died of heart failure

The Star, Thursday September 20, 2012

By DESIREE TRESA GASPER and LOH FOON FONG
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

BATU PAHAT: A post-mortem report has revealed that miracle girl Tee Hui Yi died from congestive heart failure.

Hui Yi's father Ah Soon, 57, said it did not matter that they were not given details about her death because all the family wanted was to be given time to mourn her untimely passing.

“It is a shame that she is gone especially after she got another chance at life after the transplant,” he said at the Chinese funeral parlour at Jalan Fatimah here yesterday.

Both Ah Soon and Hui Yi's mother Dina Bato Sam Bua, 52, were grateful for the hundreds of calls, messages and visits to the funeral parlour by relatives, loved ones and caring strangers.

We’ll remember you: Dina (centre) along with Hui Yi’s aunt Faridah Sampe (right), cousin Nursyakira Vun Abdullah (left) and her daughters Nursyafiqa and Nursyafinaz paying their last respects to Hui Yi.

 

“I was shocked to see such a large group of people especially on Monday night,” he said, adding that all the family could do was pray for her soul.

Hui Yi, 19, who had survived a double heart transplant in 2007, had complained to her parents that she was having back and chest pains at around 7am on Tuesday when things suddenly turned for the worse.

Her body turned stiff and attempts by her parents to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation failed.

She was pronounced dead after being rushed to the Batu Pahat hospital at 10.02am the same day.

Early yesterday morning, a group of officials from the National Heart Institute also paid their last respects to Hui Yi.

IJN transplant coordinator Sharifah Noraida Syed Nom, who was one of the nurses that took care of Hui Yi throughout her transplants and subsequent check-ups, said that many members of the staff were upset when they found out about her death.

“She was a living medical miracle and we will always miss her happy-go-lucky attitude,” she said.

Meanwhile, in Petaling Jaya, IJN cardiothoracic surgeon Prof Dr Mohamed Ezani Md Taib, who had performed the heart transplant surgery on Hui Yi together with the team that was headed by chief cardiothoracic surgeon Datuk Dr Mohd Azhari Yakub, said she was the beacon of strength for the team five years ago.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/9/20/nation/12055740&sec=nation

The Star, Thursday September 20, 2012

IJN: Hui Yi was stable during last check-up

PETALING JAYA: Tee Hui Yi's condition had been stable during her last medical check-up at the National Heart Institute (IJN).

In a statement released by IJN yesterday, it said the visit had been on Sept 3 at its transplant outpatient clinic.

It said Hui Yi was continued on her routine medication.

“Over the past four years, Miss Tee had developed episodes of rejections of the new heart and was treated accordingly,” it added.

“In April 2012, she was found to have developed graft coronary artery disease and she was started on treatment for this condition.”

The statement added that according to international data, the most common cause of death for heart transplant recipients between three and five years, were coronary artery disease (14.5%), acute rejection (10.2%) and graft failure (23.1%).

“It is difficult to ascertain the actual cause of death but the most likely possibilities are either cardiac event such as abnormal heart rhythm leading to a loss of blood pressure, graft failure or a spontaneous cerebral-bleed since she was on blood thinners,” it added.

The statement said she would be fondly remembered and greatly missed.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/9/20/nation/12055739&sec=nation