Funeral of heart op blow OAP (From Bournemouth Echo)

Funeral of heart op blow OAP

4:00pm Wednesday 10th March 2010 in

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THE funeral has taken place of a Bournemouth great-grandmother who made the front page of the Daily Echo when she was turned down for a new type of heart operation last summer.

Widow Kathleen Northey, of Talbot Village, was accepted on the list for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) by surgeons at Southampton Hospital after one of her heart valves became blocked.

But NHS Bournemouth and Poole would not fund the keyhole procedure, which is usually performed on patients who are considered too frail to withstand a conventional operation.

Mrs Northey decided to have open heart surgery despite the risk. “It was what she wanted. Being able to breathe after the operation was amazing,” said her daughter Daphne Sullivan.

“She was recovering really well and getting stronger and stronger. She was walking further each day until the winter got bad, and was doing lots for herself.

“I asked if she had any regrets and she said none at all. She felt really great and was looking forward to going to Australia to see her sister. She was really enjoying the months up to Christmas.”

Just after celebrating her 85th birthday with a family party on Boxing Day, Mrs Northey contracted pneumonia, then a chest infection.

The ashes of the former World War Two balloon operator and school cook were scattered with those of her late husband Len at Stoney Cross airfield in the New Forest, where they met. Mrs Northey left six children, 16 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.