A story of courage and hope …

Saturday K and I spent 3 hours chatting to Renier and Lizette van Zyl, Renier is a heart transplant recipient who received a new heart 4 years ago. He has an amazing story.
They were on holiday in Mosambique 8 years ago and he had a heart attack while taking a long solitary walk on the beach. He had no warning symptoms, just felt tired and when he sat down to rest experienced the most excruciating pain in his chest. He said he immediately realised that he was having a heart attack and needed to stay conscious if he wanted to survive. He managed to drag himself back to camp, crawling at times. They then had to rush to cross the border back into South Africa before the border post closed for the night.

Back in South Africa they located a rural hospital with very basic facilities. Fortunately a British lady doctor was doing community service at the hospital and managed to stabilise him with the limited resources available. An emergency flight was sent from Durban. When the flight eventually arrived, landing was impossible as it was already dark and there were no runway lights. They managed to rally all the locals and police vehicles to illuminate the runway. Renier finally reached the hospital in Durban at about 2:30 the next morning. His heart attack occurred at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Due to a lack of oxygen his heart was badly damaged. His cardiologist, who happens to be the same doctor who has treated K up until now, referred him to Dr C at Milpark for a heart transplant. Before actually putting him on the transplant list a new procedure was recommended and tried. This involved surgery during which the heart muscle that died due to a lack of oxygen was cut away ad replaced with synthetic material. This was unsuccessful and Renier was placed on the transplant list.

He waited approximately 13 months for a new heart. During this time he received numerous calls to be on standby as a possible donor was identified. Each time something happened – either the heart was not suitable or consent from the family was withdrawn at the last minute. Organ donation is something I have always believed in but have become extremely passionate about recently. This however warrants a separate post altogether.

It is now 4 years later and Renier is doing well despite some of the side affects of the medicines that a heart transplant recipient has to take for the rest of his life. He is an ex teacher but was boarded and is now on early retirement. After his transplant a friend offered him art classes and he is now producing the most amazing paintings.

Renier and Lizette have also had the privilege to become grandparents 4 months ago despite the fact that he believed he would never see his grandchildren. They are very involved with Dr C’s transplant team and have made themselves available to counsel any heart transplant candidates from Dr C’s programme. They are truly an inspiration!!!

Thank you sooo much Renier and Lizette for your encouragement and willingness to share your story. May you be abundantly blessed !!!

Note: When I asked Renier’s permission on Saturday to blog about his story he was very gracious and immediately agreed. It is my hope that this story will be an inspiration and a source of hope to many people out there.