A DUNFERMLINE dad-of-two who had a damaged heart the size of a small football is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his second chance at life.

In 2004, Peter McGeehan (64), of Victoria Street, was desperately ill and in so much pain, he actually welcomed being put under, “because I knew either way, my suffering would end”.

And doctors reckoned he should have been dead two years before the heart transplant which gave him a new lease of life.

Now Peter’s encouraging West Fifers to think about offering others the same life-changing gift, by signing up to the NHS Organ Donation Register.

In 1992, aged 42, Peter suffered a heart attack which damaged the heart muscles and increased pressure on the organ.

It resulted in cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and in 2001 he was fitted with an automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator – a device which detects and corrects the condition with an electrical impulse to the heart.

However, Peter’s health worsened and with his heart enlarging rapidly, he was listed for a transplant in November 2004 – and he’s thought about his donor every day for the last 10 years.

Peter, a former electrical engineer with the RAF, Marconi and Hewlett-Packard, said, “My body was shutting down. I was so ill at the time, I kept thinking it couldn’t get worse, but it would.

“It was impossible to do anything other than very basic things. It got so bad I could either eat or breathe. I couldn’t do both because it took so long to get sufficient oxygen into my system. Swallowing took ages. I was housebound, I couldn’t get down the stairs, let alone back up again. I couldn’t even do simple mobility and flexibility exercises. Showering took an hour-and-a-half.

“My sight almost went. I couldn’t watch TV or read for nearly two years prior to the transplant. Towards the end my memory was starting to go. I was living my worst nightmare and it was unbelievably hard for my family, watching me deterioriate. That was the most painful thing.” He admitted it was a relief when the hospital called to let him know about the transplant.

He said, “We knew the risks but the thing that made me smile was being put under, because I knew either way, my suffering would end.

“My heart was so enlarged, it was near the size of a small football. During the autopsy, the doctors couldn’t understand how I had lived so long – I should already have been dead two years before.” Peter then suffered a chest infection and spent two months in hospital but got home on Christmas Eve 2004. He recalled, “My very first thought when I came round in intensive care was, ‘I can breathe’. It was the first painless breath I had had in years.

“I knew I was either living with a successful transplant or I was in heaven!

“I had to go through a huge amount of rehabilitation and there are still limitations to what I can do but, because of my donor, I’ve been to Europe on holiday, I’ve seen my grandson, Harry, being born, and I’ve watched my daughter get married.” Peter is now urging others to “help alleviate suffering” and consider becoming organ donors.

He explained, “People take living for granted but as I approach the 10-year anniversary I can honestly say there’s never a day where I’ve woken up and haven’t thought about my unnamed donor.

“People talk about unconditional love and the one person who showed me that kind of love was my mother. That’s exactly what my donor did for me. Unconditionally ended my suffering.

“Without meeting me, or judging me, that person donated life to a stranger and I couldn’t be more grateful.” For more information on how to be a donor, log on to www.organdonationscotland.org or call 0300 123 2323.

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