THE family of a west Belfast man who died while waiting for a heart transplant have urged people to sign up for organ donation to help give others the chance of life.
Gavin Casson (37) was found at his home at Glenbawn Link in Poleglass on Friday.
The father-of-one had been on the heart transplant register for the past six months.
He was initially diagnosed at the age of 24 with muscular dystrophy which causes progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass. He was also told he was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle.
With his options limited, Mr Casson was treated with medication and a year later had a pacemaker fitted.
When he was 28 he suffered a stroke and when his condition further deteriorated two years ago, he was taken to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for a consultation.
However while there he fell gravely ill and doctors had to perform open heart surgery. During this, they fitted the 37-year-old with an
LVAD, a battery-operated mechanical pump which helps the left ventricle pump blood to the rest of the body.
Mr Casson was only one of around seven people in Ireland to have been fitted with the device.
The Poleglass man remained in hospital for three months in England before returning home and six months ago he was placed on the heart transplant list.
Around a week before he died he fell it at his mother's home and doctors discovered he had suffered a mini stroke.
He was discharged after a few days but was tragically found dead last Friday at his home by his sister and her husband.
An autopsy report recorded the cause of death as a stroke.
Ashleigh O'Neill (33) said the sudden loss of her brother had left the family "just numb".
"Gavin was gentle and quiet and a gentleman. He was well loved. Nobody had a bad word to say about him.
"He lived and breathed his daughter. He loved his family and he idolised his nieces and nephews and his mummy was his number one," Mrs O'Neill said.
The mother-of-four appealed to people to sign up for organ donation.
"If the Freeman Hospital and its medical staff had not done that for him two years, we would probably have lost him then. At one point, his heart was working at only seven per cent.
"When we found out that he needed the transplant, members of the family signed up. It made us re-evaluate our views on things.
"When they were back and forth to Freeman's, they met people who had already had a transplant and it is life changing. Please sign up, it can literally change someone's life. When people die, they don't need their organs. One body can save seven lives."
She added: "He overcame a lot of things in his life. He fought right to the end. Yes, he got upset and frustrated but he didn't stop fighting. We are proud of him.
"He will never be forgotten. The whole family are just devastated".
