Iraq veteran dies of cancer after lung transplant from heavy smoker

October 12, 2009

Iraq veteran dies of cancer after lung transplant from heavy smoker
Anil Dawar

An Iraq war veteran died after receiving cancerous lungs from a heavy smoker in a transplant.

Matthew Millington, 31, a corporal in the Queen’s Royal Lancers, had the operation to save him from an incurable respiratory condition.

But the organs were from a donor who was believed to have smoked 30 to 50 roll-up cigarettes a day. A tumour was found after the transplant, and its growth was accelerated by the drugs that Mr Millington took to prevent his body rejecting the organs.

Because he was a cancer patient, he was not allowed to receive a further pair of lungs, under hospital rules. The soldier had radiotherapy but died at home in Stoke-on-Trent in February last year.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6870424.ece