Test kit helping get cricketer back in the game

Jul 19 2008 by Neil McKay, The Journal

A BRAVE teenager is determined to beat a rare heart condition to get back on the cricket field he loves.

Kieron Perkins was left unable to walk more than a few yards after being taken ill just before Christmas. And he was warned he could need a transplant.

But the plucky 15-year-old said he was desperate to beat the condition in time for next summer’s season.

Before being diagnosed, the pupil at St Leonard’s RC Comprehensive School, Durham, lived a normal, active life and enjoyed playing cricket for the junior team of his home village, Ushaw Moor.

Doctors at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital discovered he had been born with an enlargement on the right side of his heart.

In May, they performed a successful operation to re-direct the blood through the left side of his heart and surgery to fit a pacemaker.

Although he may require a heart transplant in later years, Kieron, of Temperance Terrace, Ushaw Moor, is determined not to allow his condition to spoil his life.

He has been receiving home tutoring since Christmas, but intends to return full-time to St Leonard’s in September after the school summer holidays.

His aim is to return to the nets at Ushaw Moor for the start of next year’s cricket season in Spring 2009.

Kieron, who has two younger brothers, Connor, 11, and Dylan, six, said: “I can now manage to walk to my gran’s house at the end of the street, which is progress.

“I love playing cricket and have missed it this year. My aim is to get back to playing next spring.”

Now Kieron has been given a home testing kit, which he and his family hope will transform his life. The Warfarin device will cut his visits to the doctor and the hospital.

He was presented with the self-testing device after being nominated by the Children’s Heart Federation “for his bravery in coping with a congenital heart condition.”

The drug is prescribed to heart patients to prevent blood clotting and Kieron needs to be on long-term therapy.

Mum Alison, 35, a management accounts officer, said: “The self-testing kit will allow us to monitor Kieron at home without him having to go to the GP’s surgery or hospital, which gives him more freedom to get out and about.” Manufacturers Roche Diagnostics are conducting an educational bus tour to raise awareness of the potential benefits for patients on Warfarin self-testing.

Company sales specialist Richard Harland said there were thousands of people in the region on long-term Warfarin who may benefit from finding out about self-testing.

The bus will be stopping in Wyevale Garden Centre, Newcastle, on Monday and Tuesday between 9am and 5pm and Willowburn Leisure Centre, Alnwick, at the same times on July 25 and 26.

I love playing cricket and have missed it this year. My aim is to get back to playing next spring