By David Robinson, Belfast (Chair of NITA)

The Gift of Life

David Robinson

On All Fools Day 1971 I had my first heart attack age 38. During the subsequent 20 years I had a total of 9 heart attacks, a stroke when I lost my speech and acute heart failure. The Medical Staff in several hospitals kept me alive
In January 1991, I collapsed and the Doctor said there was nothing more he could do and told me my heart was so badly damaged that I had only a short time to live. I would have to stay in the hospital until I died. This was a great shock to me and my family

However, I was asked to consider a heart transplant and not wishing for the alternative I asked the Doctor to make the necessary arrangements. I went for an assessment which lasted for 10 days at The Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. After a lot of tests they agreed to put me on the urgent list and I came back to The Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast to wait for a suitable heart which was my blood group, my tissue type and the right size from a donor within 5 lbs of my weight. It had to fit!

The operation lasted only four hours and I am told by the surgeons that it is easier to do than a by-pass and involves less pain.

My wife, Beverly, our five children and my brother were attentive and friends supportive which was a great boost for my morale.

After one day in Intensive Care I was up and eating a full three course meal!

Three days later I was on an exercise bike!

After ten days I was discharged to a small flat in the hospital grounds. Fourteen weeks later I came back to Belfast. Nowadays folk return home to Northern Ireland in four or five weeks I continue to ride a bicycle and try to get as much exercise as possible to keep my new heart healthy. I will take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of my life to stop my body attacking the new heart

After returning to Northern Ireland I realised that other people going to England for their transplants may benefit from my experiences and I started a support group called The Northern Ireland Transplant Association in October 1991. We started with 2 members and now in 2007 we have over 200! We travel the Province encouraging people to be aware of the desperate need for more organs and how easy it is to sign the Donor Card and Register and to tell their relatives of their wishes. Today there are over 90 folk living in Northern Ireland with new hearts, 90 with new livers, some with new lungs or heart and lungs and others with multiple organ transplants. They all went out of the country for their operations as we have too small a population to sustain a specialised Transplant Unit here for these types of operations.

There have been over 2000 kidney transplants performed at the Belfast City Hospital and numerous corneal transplants on folk living here.

Some people ask what I feel like having a 17 year old’s heart inside of my 73 year old body Apart from it beating stronger than my old, weak and damaged one there is no difference, I am so glad that he or she signed a Donor Card and the relatives saved me from certain early death by giving me The Gift of Life.
Every day I say a silent “Thank You” to my Donor Family. Don’t ask relatives to burn or bury your organs when you die. Please sign and carry a Donor Card so others may live.

By Terry Woods, Craigavon (Committee Member of NITA)

The Gift of Life

I first started having trouble with my lungs in August 1981 when air started to escape causing severe pains in my chest. I was 21 years old married with 2 small children. My mother had died 2 months earlier after suffering for years with asthma and emphysema. She was just 45 years old. After a couple of weeks in Craigavon Hospital I was allowed home. I soon returned to work at the Ulster Carpet Mills.

Over the next 14 years my lungs collapsed a couple of times. I eventually had to go into the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for operations to strengthen my lungs. Things went well for a while but eventually I developed asthma and severe emphysema. I was finding it a struggle to do my work. Even getting dressed in the morning was a real task. I was eventually laid off work in 1993 due to my illness. My father had died in February 1992. He too, suffered severe breathing problems.

My health continued to deteriorate over the next couple of years. I was 7 stone in weight and couldn

By Cathy McAuley, Belfast (Committee member of NITA)

I was born on 23rd June 1973. After 2 days the doctors and nurses realized that there was something wrong with me. I was blue around the mouth and nose and was having trouble breathing. I was then transferred to the Jubilee Hospital in Belfast. I was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease. My heart had only 2 pumps and my blood was being pumped around my body the wrong way. My parents were told it was unlikely that I would see my 2nd birthday.

However, against the odds I not only reached my second birthday but with the love and devotion of my parents I was able to attend mainstream school and live a somewhat normal childhood. While I was at school I was still in and out of hospital with chest infections and other childhood illnesses. The teachers at both my primary and secondary schools were amazing