Biddulph soldier died after being given smoker's lungs in transplant

Oct 11 2009 by Tony Larner, Sunday Mercury

A MIDLAND soldier died after being given a pair of cancerous lungs from a heavy smoker in a hospital transplant.

Matthew Millington, 31, passed away at his home in Biddulph, Staffordshire, after receiving organs from a donor who is believed to have smoked up to 50 roll-ups a day.

He had married his fiancee, Siobhan, shortly before his death.

Mr Millington had undergone the double transplant at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, the country’s leading centre for the operation.

But an internal probe revealed a radiographer failed to spot the growth of a cancerous tumour in the donor lungs.

Dr Steven Tsui, clinical director of transplant services at Papworth, told North Staffordshire Coroner’s Court: “In this case there were a number of failures and I didn’t feel the team performed to the standard I’d expect.”

Systems

The hospital now has new systems in place, he added.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Millington’s devastated mum Maureen, 61, said her son had instantly realised the transplant had failed.

“He said from the moment he woke up other patients had told him he would be able to take a deep breath and be able to breathe.

“But he said his lungs felt like two deflated balloons,’’ she said.

Not until six months after the transplant was the family told something had been detected in one of the lungs. A biopsy of a lymph node discovered the cancer.

Mrs Millington said: “All Matthew wanted was another set of lungs.

“He said ‘They have given me a dud pair, get me another set’. He thought he could beat it but his condition deteriorated so fast from then.”

Mr Millington joined the Army on his 16th birthday and rose to become a corporal.

He had served as a tank crewman in Cyprus, Germany and Bosnia but left the Army in 2001, only to be recalled in October 2005.

He was serving in Iraq at Christmas 2005 when he was diagnosed with the rare lung illness. He was subsequently given two years to live and received the double lung transplant in April 2007 but died 10 months later.