The first person to get open-heart surgery in New Zealand, Christchurch resident Helen Harris, has died aged 78.
Helen (nee Arnold) was about 10 or 11 when she underwent open heart surgery, performed by Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes at Auckland’s Greenlane Hospital in September 1958.
Helen died on Saturday, February 28, surrounded by her family.
Her death notice said she was the “beloved wife of Kevin, loved mother and mother-in-law of Craig, and Danielle and Graham, step-mother of Darrell and Justine, and Sonya, Nanny of Julie, Mikayla, and Sarah, Ashlea, Gemma, and Jessica”.
The family said donations “would be appreciated” and can be made to Heart Kids, heartkids.org.nz.
Helen was born with a large hole between her right and left ventricles.
Her surgery in 1958 was a ground-breaking procedure, using new surgical techniques that drew attention from the international medical fraternity.
“I was a blue baby,” she told RNZ in 2020.
An important innovation used in the procedure was a piece of equipment called The Melrose Machine.
“They’d been working for two years to get the heart-lung machine up and running – they’d done 17 sheep before me,” Helen said.
One out of 100 babies are born with some form of heart defect. Prior to her operation, there was no effective treatment.
In 2020, RNZ reported Helen had undergone five procedures, including four pacemakers, which helped keep her heart beating.
“They didn’t expect me to live this long and I could have gone at any time when I was little … I thank medical science for allowing me to live this,” she told the broadcaster.
After the medical breakthrough, Barratt-Boyes continued to lobby for improvements and changes to healthcare in New Zealand hospitals.
He was knighted in 1971.
A celebration of Helen’s life will be held at AvonPark on the corner of Kerrs and Pages Rds in Linwood, Christchurch, today at 2.30pm.
• The Open Heart from RNZ’s Eyewitness podcast details Dr Kerr’s relationship with Sir Barratt Boyes and the day that changed Helen’s life.
– Allied Media