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<\/p>\n[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” custom_padding=”20px|0px|25px|0px” module_class=”blogMod” transparent_background=”off” allow_player_pause=”off” inner_shadow=”off” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” make_equal=”off” use_custom_gutter=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog Content” text_font_size=”13″ inline_fonts=”Lato Light” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_layout=”light” custom_css_main_element=”font-size: 16px !important;” text_orientation=”justified”]<\/p>\n
This is a story about Matt who\u2019s here today by the grace of God and the compassion of a family he\u2019ll never know. My son had a heart transplant nearly 17 years ago. He never talks about it so I will tell my part of it.<\/p>\n
In the July school holidays in 2001 Matt went through Botswana and the Okavango on a quad bike trip and white water rafting down the Zambezi. \u00a0By the middle of August that year he would be fighting for his life in Westville Hospital.\u00a0 When school resumed in August he had flu-like symptoms and began coughing up blood. Our GP admitted him to hospital as a precaution. He was placed in a general ward and on the second day, soon after I had visited him, a nurse noticed his breathing had become laboured. \u00a0He was rushed to ICU. \u00a0His mom, Tina phoned me and said I should get back to the hospital as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
When I got there he was hooked up to monitors and wearing an oxygen mask. \u00a0I became very emotional and one of the ICU nurses, Sylvia, who came only up to my shoulder, turned me round and marched me out of the room. \u00a0She told me my son must never see me upset. \u00a0Little did I know, this was to be the start of four months of amazing compassion and skill on the part of doctors, nursing staff and our neighbours, among others.<\/p>\n
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The headmaster of Matt\u2019s school heard he had gone into ICU and came to see him. \u00a0His visit marked the start of amazing support from the school and fellow pupils.\u00a0 A friend came to pick me up at the hospital and take me home that day as I was too upset to drive. After a few hours\u2019 sleep I returned to sit with Matt throughout the night.\u00a0 Tina and I sat with our son for the next few days and nights as he battled to survive. After a couple of days the specialist physician called in a cardiologist. He realised there was something wrong with Matt\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n
A few days later I fetched Tina\u2019s sister from the airport. She came to help us out and sit with Matt during the day while Tina and I tried to carry on running our business.\u00a0 When we got to the hospital Tina met us in the car park and told us that the cardiologist had examined Matt and told her there were three options: death, medication or a heart transplant and that the first option was not even a consideration and we should try the medication route.<\/p>\n
The cardiologist and his colleague a cardio-thoracic surgeon would eventually put four months into keeping my son alive.\u00a0 When his condition stabilised he was moved to the cardiac ward and a couple of weeks later released to recuperate at home. \u00a0Tina and I took turns sleeping on the floor in his room.<\/p>\n
Matt\u2019s condition did not improve. \u00a0One night at the end of September he was feeling decidedly uncomfortable. \u00a0I decided to phone the cardiologist and took Matt back to the hospital. \u00a0After the examination he told me Matt\u2019s heart had deteriorated so badly a transplant was now our only option.\u00a0 Matt was admitted to hospital and placed at the top of the waiting list for a donor. Our nerve-racking wait began\u2026..<\/p>\n
The transplant team had already started the work up preparations for a transplant should a donor become available.\u00a0 The transplant coordinator brought two other heart transplant recipients to see Matt, which helped reassure him and the rest of the family that people could survive the ordeal.\u00a0 The cardiologist told me Matt was on a rollercoaster ride downhill. \u00a0The process was merely being arrested to some extent by the medication and the medication would not sustain him for ever.<\/p>\n
As his condition worsened he was moved from a general to a high-care ward. He became weaker and weaker. His legs swelled up until his ankles were invisible. He was permanently connected to a drip and a monitor. During this time the doctors told me on four occasions my son was lucky to be alive.<\/p>\n
During Matt\u2019s time in high-care he had visits from his schoolmates, people from his church and many other people who had heard about his plight. \u00a0He was feeling very unsettled and one of the nursing sisters suggested he see a psychologist. \u00a0Matt said he was not nuts.\u00a0 But once he started seeing the psychologist he became more settled and concentrated on trying to survive.<\/p>\n
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Matt\u2019s condition weakened steadily until he couldn\u2019t get out of bed for more than a couple of minutes at a time. \u00a0Eventually in the middle of December a week after his 16th<\/sup> birthday the cardiologist told me his condition was so bad he would last a couple of days at the most.<\/p>\n The next day the cardio-thoracic surgeon would operate to put a pump in Matt\u2019s chest to help his heart. \u00a0The cardiologist felt that this operation would be more stressful for Matt than an actual transplant and that at best it would give him only a couple of days\u2019 grace. \u00a0He also said Matt would probably not survive another major operation even if a donor heart became available.<\/p>\n Then a miracle happened. \u00a0That night a donor heart became available in Cape Town. The heart was flown from Cape Town on an SAA flight and the operation began at 9am the following morning. \u00a0By 11:30am we got the message that the surgeon was doing a jig around the operating table\u2026\u2026apparently this jig accompanied every successful transplant and as soon as the transplanted heart began beating in Matt\u2019s chest so the jig began. \u00a0\u00a0We saw Matt about 3 hours later and he had already gone back to his normal colour and was warm to the touch.<\/p>\n Five weeks later he was back home and preparing to return to school and resume his life. \u00a0The skill of the doctors, the care of the nurses and the support of so many people would have been for nothing had it not been for a family who donated their child\u2019s heart.\u00a0 \u00a0I am eternally grateful to them and God.<\/p>\n Matt (with Sannie Liebenberg) showing his medals at the World Transplant Games<\/p><\/div>\n Please consider registering as an organ and tissue donor, talk to your family about your decision and share your decision with everyone that you can.\u00a0 You can make a difference in someone\u2019s life one day. \u00a0Be a Hero<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/www.odf.org.za\/matthews-journey.html” url_new_window=”on” button_text=”Register as an organ & tissue donor here…” button_alignment=”center” custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_bg_color=”#e03c33″ button_font=”Lato||||” background_color=”#dd3939″ saved_tabs=”all” background_layout=”light” button_letter_spacing=”0″ button_use_icon=”default” button_icon_placement=”right” button_on_hover=”on” button_letter_spacing_hover=”0″ global_module=”803″ \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.0.106″ show_avatar=”on” show_reply=”on” show_count=”on” background_layout=”light” header_font_size_tablet=”51″ header_line_height_tablet=”2″ custom_button=”off” button_icon_placement=”right” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a story about Matt who\u2019s here today by the grace of God and the compassion of a family he\u2019ll never know. My son had a heart transplant nearly 17 years ago. He never talks about it so I will tell my part of it. In the July school holidays in 2001 Matt went […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[20,32,7,4,41,5,53,6,42,52],"class_list":["post-1703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-organ-donor-awareness","category-organ-donor-stories","tag-donor","tag-heart","tag-hero","tag-hero777","tag-hero777aware","tag-hero777awareness","tag-matt-moffatt","tag-organdonor","tag-register","tag-save-7-lives"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hero777.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Matt-6-300x201.jpg\")
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