Kieran: A second chance at life

Taken just after leaving Papworth, these are Kieran's tablets for a month

A UK-wide campaign to encourage people to register as organ donors is being supported by a Cambridge man who recently had a heart transplant.

Kieran Sandwell, 38, received his new heart in July 2009 and said: "It has completely changed my life."

While waiting for his new heart, Kieran worked closely with NHS Blood and Transplant to raise awareness of the need for more donors to register.

There are currently 541 people on the transplant list in the Eastern region.

Three months after undergoing a heart transplant, Kieran Sandwell came into the studios of BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to talk about his operation. He hopes that his story will encourage more people to consider registering as organ donors.

Kieran's story

"I was born with a heart condition and over the course of my life I've had good and bad health, but gradually my heart deteriorated and about 10 years ago I realised that things were getting worse and worse.

"I'd gone downhill and heart failure had taken over," he explained. "I was fitted with a defibrillator to keep me going and was taking all sorts of cardiac drugs, and then, as a final step I was referred to Papworth Hospital for a heart transplant assessment."

That was two years ago, and Kieran was on the transplant list for just over a year before a heart became available.

By this time, Kieran explains that the simplest everyday tasks, such as taking a shower, rendered him breathless and he was permanently exhausted. "My whole day had to be planned around taking naps. Any form of exertion left me out of breath."

Kieran says his life has changed completely since the transplant

Working was out of the question and during this period, Kieran describes himself as "a house-husband - but not a very good one. I was only able to do bits and bobs. I had better days but sometimes I was virtually useless."

A heart transplant had become Kieran's only real option.

"There was no chance of any other surgery," he said. "And I was on all the medication that they could give me."

Five years

Without the transplant, Kieran had to face the difficult news delivered to him by his consultant at Papworth Hospital - he had only a 50/50 chance of surviving five years.

And, during that time, his quality of life would continue to go downhill.

I'm eternally grateful to this donor for giving me a second chance at life. It's incredible Kieran Sandwell

"I was told that if I became ill with anything else during that time, because my heart was so weak, I might not survive even the simplest thing."

Kieran also had to face the fact that because he had already had heart surgery following a cardiac arrest when he was 14 years old, there was an increased risk factor - of around 20 per cent - in undergoing a transplant.

But, a suitable heart did become available for Kieran and the operation went ahead. He was in theatre for around eight hours while Papworth's surgeons worked on him.

Normal again

Kieran's wife decided to document his post-operative recovery by taking photographs on a daily basis. He describes this as "quite remarkable" because it enabled him to see how, with each day spent in his hospital bed, he was getting better and better.

"After a week I looked like my normal self again," he said.

After two-and-a-half weeks, Kieran's doctors decided that he was well enough to be sent home.

Three months into his recovery, Kieran is amazed at the difference the surgery has made to his life.

Most of us don't even think twice about being able to make a cup of tea, but listening to Kieran it's clear that for him, even the most mundane tasks are an absolute joy.

"Loads of things - just little things... make an amazing difference to me. Things that most people would take for granted, I suppose.

You can listen to Kieran talking to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire presenter, Jeremy Sallis, about the difference this transplant has made to his life on the audio link on the right.

Working perfectly

A difficult question for Kieran is how he feels about having another person's heart. He admits he hasn't really thought about it that way, but added: "What I do know is that it's a huge comfort listening to my heart, because before it was all out of rhythm a lot of the time.

"Now I hear it and it's perfectly in rhythm - especially at night when I hear it working perfectly. It is a lovely thing."

Donor register

After everything he's been through, Kieran is still a firm believer in people having the choice to opt in to the donor registration system, rather than opting out.

"I was very, very lucky to have actually had the surgery," he said. "An awful lot of people do die on the list, so the more organs that are available, the better."

If you would like to know more about organ donation, visit the Organ Donor Register website.

As Kieran told us: "I'm eternally grateful to this donor for giving me a second chance at life. It's incredible."