Patients at the heart of hospital’s celebrations
FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon showed she was all heart when she helped the Golden Jubilee Hospital celebrate 25 years of pioneering work.
She visited the Clydebank centre to meet patients. Among them was an inspirational dad of three who is on the critical list for a heart transplant.
The Evening Times told Michael Hanlon’s story last week and how his hopes that the call will come before Christmas.
The 55-year-old has been waiting for a new heart for five months.
There was also an emotional reunion for Scotland’s oldest heart transplant survivor who was reunited with his life-saving surgeon after more than two decades apart.
Robert Colville, 73, could barely believe his eyes when he shook the hand of Professor David Wheatley, 75, yesterday.
Robert said that he was amazed by the progress modern medicine had made.
He said: “Back in the day if you said you had a heart transplant you got to the front of the queue, now if it comes up it’s like you’ve had a cold.
“I can remember in 1967 when I was working for Rolls Royce. We were on our tea break and someone came in with a newspaper and said, ‘Look, they’ve had the first heart transplant’.
“I said, ‘I wonder what that would be like.’ I never imagined it would be me.
“I actually felt alive after the transplant. Beforehand I was always feeling ill.”
Professor Wheatley, who performed the first heart transplant in Scotland in 1991, was inspired to become a surgeon at a young age. He said: “I was probably interested in heart surgery from around the age of 12 or 13.”
The First Minister was full of praise for the transplant recipients and praised the efforts of the NHS staff at the hospital.
She said: “Part of my job is getting invited to lots and lots of events but I can say without fear of contradiction that this annual gathering is the most exclusive.”
Ms Sturgeon also celebrated the fact Scotland had a larger number of organ donors than any other country in the UK. She added: “We don’t know who they all are but I suspect for the people here there probably isn’t a week that passes when you don’t think of a donor.”
The Evening Times Opt For Life campaign has called for the law to be changed to opt out. It had the backing of health charities Kidney Research UK, the British Heart Foundation and the cystic Fibrosis Trust.