Pedal for Patients

I’m cycling the 182 mile Tour de Kernow to say thank you to the Cardiac Team at Treliske and to celebrate and raise funds for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Charity. With your support, I will be helping to enhance the care given to people across Cornwall.

Cycling is one of my passions, so it’s interruption in April 2024 was frustrating to say the least.

It started when I walked into the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske, Truro with my wife towards the end of April 2024; I’m told I felt fine but had suffered what my wife thought was a seizure earlier in the morning. I’ve no memory of this. Within minutes of being triaged, whilst waiting for a CT scan I suffered a series of cardiac arrests. This was pretty traumatic for my wife whilst CPR was administered in a corridor. Eventually I was admitted to Critical Care. My wife didn’t see me again for about 4 hours although she was kept informed of what was happening, before being told that I was really unwell and she should telephone our close family to come. After she made unimaginably difficult phone calls to our two daughters I’m told they arrived late afternoon coming directly from work, one from Dorset, the other from Launceston.

Later that evening Christine, Helen and Louise were told that I had suffered a series of further cardiac arrests but I was at last stable, but sedated. Pretty much everything was being monitored. An angiogram revealed occlusion of three coronary arteries. Two stents were fitted and along with an external pacemaker these seemed to settle the immediate emergency. They were able to see me.

I was transferred to the Coronary Care ward three days later and support systems were slowly removed. After visits from numerous specialists and an MRI scan it was decided that I had suffered no further damage as a result of the cardiac arrests, but I needed a triple cardiac artery bypass graft (CABG – known as a cabbage) and was eventually discharged 2½ weeks later mid-May.

I was so lucky throughout this whole experience. If the second cardiac arrest hadn’t happened at Treliske I don’t think I would still be around to tell this story. My wife, my daughters and I are so truly humbled by the care, professionalism, dedication and compassion shown by all the medical staff at Treliske. At every stage through my recovery my wife was kept informed of what was happening and why.

Whilst I felt fine after being discharged, I was instructed to refrain from heavy lifting, driving (DVLA regs)…and cycling.

My cardiac CABG surgery took place in September 2024 and was successful. The first practical milestone was being able to drive.

I was signed off by my Cardiothoracic surgeon on Christmas Eve 2024, 12 weeks post-surgery but was advised that I still shouldn’t ride my bike on the road. Apparently, my sternum would not be sufficiently healed and in the event that I had an accident could potentially undo all the good work the surgical team had carried out in September. However, I am lucky enough to have an indoor training bike and was told I could ride this gently but had to ensure I stayed in zone 1 and didn’t let my heart rate rise beyond this.

As winter drew to a close, I enrolled on a Cardiac rehabilitation course which once again had been recommended to me by the cardiac physiotherapist team, all part of the NHS service. This involved an eight-week on-line course during which my heart rate was monitored along with my blood pressure at varying degrees of exercise. Each metric was tracked during the eight-week course and the improvements were recorded. The course exceeded my expectations. The importance of warming up and cooling down for all exercise was stressed, as well as the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in order to look after my heart and body generally.

After finishing the course my final physio review cleared me to embark on some outside road rides. These started gently along the Camel trail (level and relatively pothole free) but as the weather improved, I started riding with my cycling club, Wadebridge Coasters, and began to increase the distance ridden.

Where am I now? Pretty much back to normal, apart from the meds I take ! I monitor my heart rate when exercising as I mustn’t let it get too high for too long, and I’ve learnt to listen to my body.

I’d like to thank everyone at the NHS who supported me for about a year. Everyone involved in saving my life back in April 2024, those who nursed me so that I could come home and prepare for surgery, the surgical team who conducted my surgery, and the physio teams who helped me recover from surgery and recover my fitness. There were so many people involved. What an incredible team effort…and you guys do it each and every day.

If you would like to thank the NHS and support, like me, the work of the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, please, please give generously to my Just Giving Page. With your support we can really help make a difference. Your donation will be used to enhance and innovate facilities, provide advanced equipment, support groundbreaking research and even help boost the wellbeing of the NHS staff themselves.

Thank you.