Influenza left 18-year-old Kacper Bortel needing a double lung transplant in Zabrze

How the illness progressed

Kacper Bortel, a karate athlete, fell ill with influenza A in February, according to his mother Joanna Bortel. He first felt weakness, poor concentration and fatigue, and then a fever, and he initially treated the symptoms himself. On a Thursday he felt worse, saw a paediatrician on Friday and was in intensive care by Saturday, his mother said.

He was taken in critical condition to the Upper Silesian Child Health Centre in Katowice. Cardiac surgeon Maciej Urlik of the Silesian Centre for Heart Diseases in Zabrze said the viral infection was followed by a bacterial infection, and that together they damaged the lungs and then the whole body. Anaesthesiologist Anna Piórko said Kacper had to be intubated and fitted with an ECMO machine that took over the work of his lungs.

Transplant decision

After five weeks of treatment his condition kept worsening, and the Katowice team asked the Zabrze team for a consultation. Urlik said the team assessed him on site and found that nothing more could be offered apart from a transplant. Piórko described the diagnosis of irreversible lung damage and an urgent referral for transplantation.

According to the reports, one lung had torn and bled heavily, with a hole of roughly 10 centimetres. Doctors initially considered removing that lung, but the bleeding was controlled with medication instead. Urlik said the team decided to stake everything on a transplant despite a very high risk linked to the persisting infection.

We diagnosed irreversible lung damage. We qualified him for transplantation on an urgent basis.

The operation and recovery

The transplant took place in April, about two weeks after Kacper was admitted to Zabrze. The operation lasted around 13 hours. Urlik said the removed lungs were in very poor condition, with the right lung showing an opening of about 10 centimetres, and that such an appearance is very rare.

Before and after the surgery, Kacper received more than 100 units of blood products, and the lung damage had caused him to lose up to about four litres of blood a day. Piórko said the team accepted the risk because the patient had many contraindications, but the operation was the only way to save his life.

The patient had many contraindications, at first glance, for this transplant. But it was the only possibility to save Kacper's life.

Life after transplant

Kacper says he is not yet at full strength but that his strength is slowly returning. He said he had wanted to keep up with schoolwork during the illness and had initially played down the first symptoms, which he now calls foolish. Dziennik Zachodni reports that he wants to return to school.

I am definitely not at full strength, but that strength is slowly coming back.

Kacper appeals for vaccination against influenza, pointing to how quickly a common illness can become life threatening.