Transplant father Andrew Moffat dies during operation

A father who was hoping to become the third member of his family to undergo a successful heart transplant has died.

Andrew Moffat, 45, from Cleland, Lanarkshire, passed away in hospital on Saturday.

Last year he told BBC Scotland he hoped to follow in the footsteps of his two children by having life-saving surgery.

It is understood he died during the transplant operation at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank.

His children Stephen, 12, and Rachael, 7, were the first siblings in the UK to have transplants for a hereditary heart problem.

Mr Moffat had been on a long waiting list for a heart donor.

His father, Ian, 71, said: "It's a really bad time for us. We are all in shock."

Last April the family featured in the media when it emerged that they could become the first to undergo three heart transplants.

Mr Moffat, a farmer, had problems with his heart since childhood but it was not until he and his wife, Mary, became concerned about their children's health that they realised a condition, known as restrictive cardiomyopathy, ran in the family.

Stephen Moffat had the transplant surgery in December 2007 and then his younger sister Rachael had the same operation in August 2008.

After their father collapsed last January and was taken to hospital with heart failure it became clear he would also require surgery.

He told the BBC Scotland news website last year: "It is very rare. Rather than a hat trick - we would be going for a 'heart trick'.

"Sitting here right now I feel not bad but I cannot work or doing anything strenuous.

"I have been told I will require a transplant but the longer I wait the more complicated it could become. We have to make a decision soon about what do do."