I so often hear nowadays how hard it has been for people to go through lockdown. I always chuckle to myself. You see I spent the best part of 2019, an entire year, in a form of lockdown.
Let me explain.
As many of you are aware my heart-related journey seemed to begin in February 2014 when I suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and literally dropped dead. In hindsight, the unique form of hindsight that only a new heart can bring, I have come to realise that I was sick for quite a while before 2014. After I ‘came back from the dead’ I was fitted with a defibrillator. I had a heart ablation operation later in the year which led to a relatively event-free four years.
And then I decided to take a much needed vacation. On November 5th 2018 my wife and I travelled to the Great Barrier Reef anticipating a week of paddleboarding, photography and relaxation. However, my heart had other ideas. No sooner had we settled on Fitzroy Island and were grabbing a bite for lunch than I began feeling heart palpitations.
I became light headed, which was unusual for me. I managed to make it back to our bungalow, but didn’t feel good. My tummy was cement. I recalled feeling the same way just before I collapsed in 2014.
Bang!
It felt like I had been hit by a freight train in every one of my senses and pain receivers. I groaned, realising I’d received a life saving shock from my defibrillator. It was my first, but by no means my last.
In quick succession I had nine shocks. At some point I lost consciousness and count, but they just kept on coming. I thought it was my time to go.
As the evening settled in the air above the island was ripped apart by my saviors. A rescue helicopter hovered over the ferry wharf and I was soon joined by an elite medical team with combat experience. They quickly went into action, stabilising me and bringing me out of my life threatening heart rhythm all within a window so that I could be winched up onto the helicopter and rushed to Cairns Hospital before the fuel ran out.
We made it back to Cairns and subsequently to Sydney a few days later. But this event catalysed a series of operations to try and correct the electrical anomalies I was having with my heart.
I went back in on the 5th March 2019 for yet another ablation procedure, but this time remained in hospital until December 20th. I went into end stage heart failure and on my birthday, May 11th I was given days to live. That same day I was placed on the heart transplant waiting list.
Four days later I got the call. They had found me a heart. In context, it can take weeks, months or years for a heart to become available. And tragically some people never get the call. Four days: wow, I am still in awe and ever so grateful.
The transplant itself went off without a hitch and for a brief moment I became the world’s first titanium heart recipient (in the name of heart research) before receiving my new heart. However, because I’d been in a weakened state prior to the operation I suffered major post-op complications. I spent 40 days in ICU and many of those on life support.
Emerging from ICU, I had lost 40 kilograms and become severely deconditioned. I could barely move in my hospital bed, but after four months finally progressed to rehab. I then had to learn to walk again from scratch and build up my strength. This took four long months, but eventually I was discharged, in time for Christmas.
Since being discharged I’ve focused on returning to health and on writing. I’m happy to say that both endeavors are going well and I expect you’ll hear my (written) voice more and more in the coming months and years.
Today, though is a special day. It marks 12 months since I had my transplant. In honor of my donor I wrote them a letter.
Clik here to view.
Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. May they inspire you and fill you with hope for a post-pandemic world in which you find much joy and happiness.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
