‘Waiting for my transplant is like living a death sentence every day’
AFATHER-of-two says waiting for a heart transplant is like living each day with a “death sentence” hanging over his head.
David Smith has been given a 50/50 chance of surviving the next five years if he does not get a donor heart.
Two years ago the 54-year-old was a high-earning managing director travelling all over Europe, enjoying judo, cycling and a full life with his wife Gwen and two sons, Calum, 26 and Thomas, 15.
The picture now, couldn’t be more different.
He is living benefits and unable to walk more than 50 yards. His wife Gwen, 45, has given up her own job to be his full-time carer.
David’s own father, Thomas, died of a heart attack at 35 when David was nine, leaving his mother a widow with five children.
His two sons ould be at risk and the family are awaiting genetic tests.
Getting a new heart, he says, would “mean the world.” to him.
David has given his full backing to the Evening Times’ campaign for an opt-out transplant system – where individuals who wish to donate organs after death are not required to sign the national register.
As a government consultation on the change enters its final five days, David today urged the Scottish Government not to delay the life-saving change.
He said: “When you first get put on the transplant list, every time the phone rang, I jumped out of my skin.
“You are just waiting all the time. You can’t do anything.
“It’s like a death sentence over your head, to be brutally honest.
“Getting a new heart would mean everything to me. It would mean the world.
“Organs are being wasted. The opt-out is the best solution for people who are waiting for a transplant, whether that’s a heart, liver or kidney.
David suffered a serious heart attack on September 30, 2015 known as a “widow-maker”, where the artery to the left side of the heart was completely blocked.
This type of blockage can be fatal as it cuts off the blood supply to the heart’s front wall, causing significant damage to the heart muscle.
He said: “Thankfully my wife was there and she called an ambulance.
“I don’t remember it but I arrested in the ambulance and paramedics had to bring me back.”
He was fitted with stents to open the blocked artery but a month later on October 20, 2015, he suffered another cardiac arrest at home in front of his wife and two children Calum, 26 and Thomas, 15.
His wife saved his life by giving him CPR and ambulance staff tried to re-start his heart using a defibrillator. Medics managed to stabilise him and he was placed in a medically induced coma for five days, and then spent another week recovering.
He said: “The doctors believe the only reason I am alive is because I was so fit.”
Surgeons have now fitted David with a cardioverter defibrillator in his chest, which shocks his heart if it detects an irregular heart beat and he is under the care of heart experts at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank.
DAVID said: “The tablets they give me just managed the effects on my other organs. It’s horrendous for my children and my wife too.
“Obviously she’s been affected emotionally. I think the biggest impact is that I can’t work.
“A year ago I was in a high powered job, flying around Europe earning lots and lots of money.
“I can’t drive, they took my licence off me. I get very tired.
“Now my memory goes, I can’t walk more than 50 yards, or a flight of stairs without getting out of breath. I’m on benefits now and I can tell you it’s really hard. The first six months were horrendous. My wife is my carer. It affects everything you do.
“Previously before my heart attack I was 100% fit. I did judo, I was always walking and cycling.
“My father died when he was 35 year’s old of a heart attack leaving my mum with five children. My mum also had heart problems so I’m going for genetic testing. It will have implications for my children.”
David, who is originally from Essex but lives in Bathgate, hopes that a system of deemed consent for organ donation – which is already in force in Wales, will be brought in across the UK and not just in Scotland.
He said: “Until you are impacted you can’t really understand.”
Please respond to the government consultation at http://bit. ly/2mYxkLA