Two hearts beating as one
Two hearts beating as one. No, this is not the title of the latest Hollywood blockbuster or a pop song. It’s a reality in the life of 37-year-old Paul Thesen.
His life story could quite easily be a big hit, almost too incredible to be true.
He was a 12-year-old growing up in Knysna when his heart played up for the first time.
‘I picked up a viral disease and I deteriorated rapidly,’ says Thesen.
Thesen’s father ‘pulled some strings’ and soon the teenager found himself on the examination table of the most famous heart surgeon in the world, Chris Barnard.
Up until then Barnard had done several heart transplants, but had never attempted to do one on a child because of the high rate of rejection among past recipients.
But Barnard had been testing an alternative that appeared to be paying off. He retained the patient’s heart, but implanted a second heart that ‘piggy-backed’ on the patient’s own. This meant that both hearts fulfilled the functions of one.
‘After much deliberation between Chris Barnard and his brother Marius they decided to do this operation,’ said Thesen, who was at the time the youngest heart transplant patient.
His first donor was a young black man who had died in a motor vehicle accident in the Eastern Cape.
‘It was weird for me speaking to this guys father on the phone. I was young and didn’t realise the enormity of the situation.
‘But I do remember the father telling me that he hoped his son would work hard for me.
‘At the time I didn’t realize my own mortality. I got treated like a VIP and I enjoyed all the attention.
Three years later Thesen’s own heart started deteriorating further and another donor was sought.
This time it was the heart of a young white girl, ironically the daughter of a man widely accepted to be one of the proponents of apartheid.
‘I was living multi-racialism,’ Thesen quipped.
At the time he was the only person known to have two donor hearts supporting his circulation for close on 20 years.
Up until recently Thesen has managed to live a normal, active life, participating in marathons, sky diving, motorcross racing, big game hunting and represented South Africa at the Transplant Games.
‘I never thought I would live this long,’ he said.
Last November Thesen over-exercised and damaged the one heart, the one he had named ‘Chivas’ after the Scotch Whiskey Chivas Regal.
‘I actually know the minute it popped, when I had damaged Chivas.’
‘It helps to focus on the organs, talk to them.’ Thesen has named his other heart ‘Shivers’.
Thesen consulted the doctor who had been looking after him for the past 15 years, Professor Johan Brink, a protégé of Barnard and clinical director of the Chris Barnard Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Cape Town.
‘I also consulted some specialists in Johannesburg and they all said that they were not up to the task. They said if anyone could pull me through, it would be Brink.’
‘He told me it would be tough, that there was a chance that I wouldn’t make it or that I would be brain damaged.’
Thesen went on a six-month retreat and decided to go for the surgery, which was conducted at the UCT Medical Centre about two weeks ago.
In a 9 hour operation Brink separated the two hearts and did some repair work (a heart valve repair and triple bypass operation) on the heart Thesen now relies on.
It is also always risky to tamper with a transplanted heart.
‘It would have been too risky to remove the faulty heart, so we have left it there. It is not working, but it can also do no damage, it is basically like a piece of fat in his chest,’ Brink explained.
Thesen, who went home after 10 days, only had praise for what he calls the ‘dream team’.
‘They are the best, a national asset and we should treasure them.’
The UCT Medical Centre changed hands last week when its major shareholder, German hospital group Rhon Klinikum pulled out.
The medical centre was taken over by Westcare (50%) and a group of doctors (24%) with the university increasing its share to 26%.
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