Fiona Coote was the second, youngest and first female in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 to undergo a heart transplant. The procedure was performed by notable Chinese-Australian cardiothoracic surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

, Dr Victor Chang

Victor Chang

Victor Peter Chang, AC , was a Chinese Australian cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation. Born in Shanghai to Australian-born Chinese parents, he grew up in Hong Kong before moving to Australia...

 and was successfully carried out on in April 1984, when Coote was 14 years of age. The urgent transplant

Organ transplant

Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...

 was due to complications of viral-induced tonsilitis, that significantly weakened her heart.

Coote underwent her first surgery in St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

St Vincent's Public Hospital, Sydney is located in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. Though part of the New South Wales state public health system it remains under the auspices of the Sisters of Charity.-History:...

. When she began rejecting that heart, she was forced to endure a second heart transplant, which took place in 1986.

She has enjoyed good health since.