Derek Claridge

My Wife Mary married in 1967 and left England for Australia, I worked in the Construction industry supervising a number of the multi-storey buildings in Perth City. We moved to The Pilbara where I was first diagnosed with heart disease at the young age of 29 years, our children were 6 & 3 years.

While playing badminton in a school hall at Karratha I felt this pain in my chest and down my left arm, I had to rest a while and then it went away only to return again following more exertion. I was sent to a cardiologist in Perth and returned with pills and not much hope for an extended future.

My mother had died of the same complaint at age 46 years; I had a cholesterol problem and was in a high stress job in the building industry, all contributing factors. I had never smoked cigarettes though had enjoyed a pipe for a few years.

Our focus on life changed when we became Christians and it was when we went to the Blue Mountains in NSW to join a Church there that we found out that surgery was an option.

I was referred to a cardiologist who sent me by ambulance to Concord Hospital, I was transferred from Concord Hospital to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and there had my first bypass surgery, 6 grafts.

I was free from angina following surgery although it took a few months to recover my strength, I returned to work as a Project Manager, again on multi storey buildings. We built a house at Blackheath. I went on various diets to control my cholesterol, Pridikin and even more radical the Geerson diet, I lost a lot of weight, looked like a bit like a skeleton but actually it did nothing for my cholesterol, it went up in fact.

We were not told grafts were only a temporary measure given my cholesterol problem, so after a period of 8 years when the familiar pain started to return in increasing depth and frequency it was quite a shock to us. I was referred to the surgeon again, and was readmitted to Royal Prince Alfred and the bypasses where all renewed.

The operation was only partially successful in that the angina was still there - not so intense but there all the same. A short walk on my return home was enough to reveal this and you can imagine what a big disappointment that was.

I managed to continue working for a few more years but eventually my Dr recommended I give it up because of the stress involved. That was in 1990 I didn’t realise exactly how much stress I was under until I stopped work, it was actually a relief. Even though I was on the invalid pension, I was determined to do as much with my life as my health would allow, this included going to Bible College. We took holidays, bought a house, and started a church in Perth.

After a while tablets where no longer controlling the angina and again it seemed like the end of the road. I was referred to the transplant team at Royal Perth Hospital and Dr Larbalestier, who was the only surgeon doing heart transplants at that time.

Before I was accepted as a likely candidate for transplant I had to undergo just about every test known to the medical fraternity and then have an interview where they presented their decision and we were given the opportunity to accept or reject it. There where strings attached for example I had to agree to visit RPH gym 3 times per week from that point which would prepare me for after the transplant, I think we would have agreed to anything!!

From acceptance there were other tests and lead up visits to various specialists and finally I was given a pager, I could be contacted at any time but had to stay within the metro area. This was a particularly nerve racking period, the pager went off a few times with false alarms but fairly soon it was for real, they let me know there was a heart available but just to wait as more tests had to be done to confirm a match, this one was not to be, more disappointment.

It might sound crazy but in order to have a heart transplant you need to be fit that’s why they insisted on the gym program. So how can you get fit if any increases in heart rate gives you pain or shortage of breathe? I was encouraged to press through the pain, which I understand was a new philosophy.

I determined to do the best I could and was diligent in exercising and the gym regime. I was given a program which included a very boring work up on the exercise bike so to alleviate this I started riding my own bike from Cannington to RPH which is about 28kms return.

For a while my health improved but after a few years how I went was calculated in the number of anginine tablets I took. The trip from home to the hospital would require, on average 9 Anginine tablets. There is a particularly good hill (Victoria Ave) approach from the Esplanade to the hospital I’d take about three anginine at the bottom and always appreciated it when the lights turned red on the way up. Sometimes Mary and I would cycle together; we made that an enjoyable time by having lunch at the Barrack St Jetty afterwards.

It became obvious my condition had now deteriorated further and I regained the pager, whenever it went off I had to ring the transplant coordinator, we had the trauma of false alarms again.

“It’s a strange feeling. You do and you don’t want a transplant, because a new life for me meant a life lost for someone else.”

 At this time I was still maintaining the exercise program with some difficulty and the emergency rides via ambulance where becoming more frequent, mostly at night. I was in hospital during one of these visits August 8th 2000, not able to even go to the toilet without pain when I was approached and told that a heart was  available, did I want to go ahead……….

All of a sudden it was all happening, there was hardly time to think before I was on my way.

It was more traumatic for my family at this point then for me, they were given a guest room and an 11-hour wait for news.

The surgery was not without incident and my new heart took a long time to start beating…..but obviously it did. Then came recovery and for quite a while I thought the operation had been unsuccessful which was absurd because I was alive! I did a lot of moaning and groaning due mostly to the pain but when this was addressed by medical staff life become more bearable.

I had some problem of rejection in the first couple of weeks but we understood this is quite common. In the first weeks this is monitored by regular biopsies where they take bits of the new heart back these reduce from weekly to every three months over a twelve month period.

The high doses of immune suppressive drugs meant I was vulnerable to infection even a cold could have nasty consequences. Gradually we learned to come to terms with this and the strange yet delightful new way of life without pain. Even doing normal things like mowing the lawn and watching the cricket which if exciting used to give me angina.  Without pain this time I was back on my bike riding to RPH again now part of the ongoing program.
 
I am constantly moved with compassion and gratitude towards our donor family.

Eventually competing in the National Transplant Games it was a joy to present them with two of the three gold medals I won at the first games I competed in at the Gold Coast in 2002.

I’ve since competed in the National Games each year and World Games in France and Thailand.
  
We had never heard of the Transplant Games, we soon discovered that they had been happening for at least 22 years, one year international the next year in Australia. The members are recipients and donors of many types of transplants not just hearts like mine.

Statistics show that registration of organ donor’s rises considerably immediately following the games, this is because of media coverage and stories such as mine that are published.

Following a challenge in the RPH Cardiac Gym I decided to ride my bike to the games in Adelaide 2004. This venture proved a great success in the promotion of Organ Donation with many radio and TV interviews including a report on A Current Affair.

Life is so precious I think we should grab every opportunity to extend it and push through the tough times. I thank God for my new life and will be eternally grateful to my donor family as I make the most of my second chance at life.