NASA saved our little girl's life after she died twice

Gadget used on Mars seals hole in heart

- BY LUCY LAING

A BRAVE young schoolgirl whose heart stopped beating for more than half an hour was saved by technology NASA uses in space.

Evie Gore, 10, was brought back to life twice by doctors before they eventually found her a suitable organ from a donor.

But after the transplant they had to make a hole between the heart's top two chambers to help the blood flow more easily around her body.

The hole was closed by a high-tech device developed by the US space agency and used to explore Mars.

Evie has since taken part in her school sports day and ridden a horse for the first time. She also competed in the British Transplant Games in Oxford last month.

INCISION

Evie's mum Sarah, 38, said: "To look at her now, it's hard to believe that she has been through so much as she's doing amazingly well."

The device which closed the hole in Evie's heart is called an ASD Occluder and is made of nitinol - an alloy also used in aerospace. It was employed to create shock-absorbing rover wheels used to explore Mars.