‏Law Student Returns to her Studies and Art after Heart transplant in Riyadh

Durrah had no symptoms when doctors told her she carried a genetic mutation that was weakening her heart muscle.

A year after a heart transplant at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSH) in Riyadh, the woman in her twenties is back at law school and painting again, often returning to the heart as a subject.

"It's hard to receive news like that when you don't feel anything at all," she said. "I thought I was living my life the right way."

Her diagnosis came through her sister. After the sister was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, genetic testing identified a mutation linked to the disease, and doctors recommended screening the rest of the family. Durrah carried the same mutation, which allowed doctors to begin monitoring her before the disease advanced.

"Cardiomyopathy has many causes, and genetic testing is one of the most important steps in finding the cause," said Dr. Ahmed Almustafa, a consultant in adult heart failure at KFSH who supervised her case.

"These conditions can appear in family members to different degrees, so testing lets us identify carriers even before symptoms appear, and follow them before the disease reaches an advanced stage."

As her heart function declined, she underwent cardiac catheterization and an MRI and was treated with medication. When that was no longer enough, a medical committee placed her on the transplant waiting list. She waited about five months, part of it in intensive care under daily monitoring, until a suitable donor was found.

The surgery lasted eight hours, from noon until 8 p.m. A nurse stayed with the family throughout, while Almustafa came out from time to time to update them. When the operation ended, the nurse told Durrah's mother: "That's it. I have delivered what was entrusted to me."

After the transplant, Durrah was placed on ECMO, a machine that temporarily takes over part of the work of the heart and lungs, to ease the strain on the new organ. She came off it three days later, and her body accepted the heart.

Today she divides her time between lectures, sport, travel and painting, the pursuit that matters most to her.