I had a HUGE tumour growing in my heart

Tom with his surgeon Simon, and running a marathon with his sister Holly

AT THE age of 21, Tom Curtis thought he was on the way to fulfilling his dream of joining the Royal Air Force but within weeks of sending off his application, he was desperately ill and waiting for an urgent heart transplant to have any chance of survival.

 

It was thanks to the skill and quick thinking of his medical team that Tom is alive today.
When he was rushed to Harefield Hospital in London in November 2013, doctors believed that Tom, now 23, had suffered heart failure caused by a viral infection.
Yet when his surgeon opened his chest in theatre he discovered a large tumour about the size of a matchbox on his right atrium, the right upper chamber of the heart. Fortunately for Tom the surgeon was able to remove the tumour successfully and reconstruct his heart during surgery that lasted for 12-and-a-half hours, allowing him to make an amazing recovery.
“I’d never heard of anyone having a tumour on their heart before,” says Tom, a gas engineer, from Wimborne, Dorset.
“Being in the condition I’m in now makes me one of the lucky ones. When the tumour was found there was a chance I wouldn’t make it. I don’t think less experienced surgeons would have known what to do, considering it was such a rare case. 

I’d never heard of anyone having a tumour on their heart before

Tom Curtis

“Nurses from my local hospital said many surgeons would have closed me back up and not wanted to touch it, so I’m thankful for everything that the team at Harefield has done for me.”
When Tom first became ill two years ago his face became swollen and he started to feel breathless and tired, leading doctors to think he was experiencing an allergic reaction but antihistamines had no effect.
His GP then suspected his heart might be to blame and carried out an electrocardiogram (ECG) that showed irregularities.
Tom was admitted straightaway to Poole Hospital, where an X-ray showed his heart was enlarged.
He was transferred to Royal Bournemouth Hospital where doctors found fluid in the sac around his heart.
Two litres of fluid were drained away but hours later he suffered a cardiac arrest and was rushed to Harefield Hospital, a specialist heart and lung hospital, as a medical emergency.
The specialist team at Harefield felt the most likely explanation was that a viral infection had significantly damaged Tom’s heart.

Tom was transferred to the Royal Bournemouth hospital

His doctors decided to operate to fit an implanted mechanical pump, known as a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), to support his failing heart while he waited on the urgent transplant list for a new heart.
However when he began the operation, Mr Andre Simon, director of transplantation at Harefield Hospital, was shocked to discover the large unexpected growth on Tom’s heart.
After discussing the best course of action with his colleagues and Tom’s family, he successfully managed to remove the tumour and rebuild the right side of his heart. Malignant tumours which originate in the heart are very rare because, unlike cells in other parts of the body, heart muscle cells do not regenerate.
It is usually the regeneration process that causes cells to mutate and can lead to the growth of tumours.
Analysis of Tom’s tumour showed it was a synovial sarcoma which accounts for less than one per cent of all primary cardiac tumours, with fewer than 20 cases worldwide ever reported in medical literature.
Synovial sarcomas are typically highly aggressive and patients rarely survive for more than nine months after diagnosis.
“I was heavily sedated for 12 days and the first thing I remember is waking up on Christmas Day and talking to my dad,” recalls Tom.
 

Doctors initially decided to fit an implanted mechanical pump known as a LVAD

“I was so happy to be told that I hadn’t needed an LVAD, was no longer on the transplant list and had kept my own heart.”
However it came as a shock to Tom when doctors broke the news that his symptoms had been caused by a cancerous tumour and that he would need chemotherapy as a precaution, in case cancer cells were still in his body.
“I had chemotherapy at Southampton General Hospital from March 2014 until the end of that summer. I was told I’d tolerated it well but I still felt sick, weak and tired and couldn’t sleep.”
Since the end of his chemotherapy Tom has built up his strength and he started working again, two months ago.
He is still monitored closely at Harefield Hospital because he has a leaky tricuspid valve, which forms the boundary between the right ventricle (the right lower chamber of the heart) and the right atrium.
Tom may need a further operation to correct this but for now it isn’t causing him any problems.
“I feel fine now. I go to the gym a few times a week and do lots of running,” he says.
**WATCH HEARTWARMING VIDEO OF A DETERMINED MOTHER WHO DISCOVERED HER YOUNG SON'S BRAIN TUMOUR**

Tom has even run a 5K race to raise more than £1,000 for Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals Charity earlier this year with his sister Holly, 24. 

“When I have exercise tests at Harefield the team there expect me to get out of breath and struggle because of my leaky valve but I don’t notice the effects at all.

However the fact I’ve had cancer means that unfortunately I’m no longer able to join the Royal Air Force.” 

“I am so grateful to all the team at Harefield, especially to Mr Simon. He worked under such pressure and what he managed to do for me was incredible.” 

Tom has also praised the care he received from his GP Dr Sam Ghazawy, Dr Din and the coronary care team at Bournemouth Hospital and the teenage and young adult ward at Southampton General Hospital. 

Mr Simon adds: “In all my years as a surgeon I have never seen or heard of a case like Tom’s before. The fact we managed to remove his tumour successfully is a credit to the expert team I work with at Harefield. 

“At the time we feared Tom wouldn’t leave the operating theatre alive so it is wonderful to see how well he is doing now.”