One good reason to fundraise and participate in the Heart & Stroke Foundation's Big Bike Ride is because a person's family and friends have been affected by heart disease, heart failure or stroke but when it's all three it becomes a triple threat that inspires action.
Laverne Weyman, who works in administration at the local Sears store, has been involved in the Heart & Stroke Big Bike Ride for 15 years. This year, Weyman will ride with one of the people who has spurred her into action all these years, her long-time friend Tom Stewart.
Weyman's son, Lee, suffered a stroke before he was a year old when he contracted meningitis in 1978, which left him with limited use of his left hand and required a brace on his left foot to help him walk.
Weyman then lost her father, Milton Stafford, from an aneurism on his heart in 1984 and husband Dennis suffered a heart attack in 1995 at 44 years old and fortunately survived it.
"For me it hits close to home with the heart and stroke and there are so many people who have benefited from the research being done, so it's important to support the Big Bike Ride," she said.
Weyman has fundraised and ridden in each Big Bike Ride for the last 14 years, but missed the ride last year when she traveled to Vancouver to support Stewart, who needed a procedure done on his failing heart before a heart transplant could be done.
Stewart accepted Weyman's invitation to sit in the Captain's chair during the Big Bike Ride June 17 when the local Sears' team puts new meaning to the phrase pedal to the 'mettle' - because Stewart has certainly proven his mettle as a successful heart transplant survivor who has thrived as he approaches his one-year anniversary with his new heart.
Stewart grew up feeling like he struggled more than others when it came to playing, running and doing what most kids did growing up. It's suspected that his heart was damaged when he contracted rheumatic fever but he just learned to live with it and led a normal life until 1996, at 44 years, when a routine doctor's visit immediately sent him from Prince George to St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver for open heart surgery to have a valve replaced.
"Tom lived with that for 14 years," said his wife Sue. Because one side of Stewart's heart over compensated for the weak side, his heart became enlarged, which is a form of cardiomyopathy. In 2005, he was unable to continue to work as a millwright and had a pacemaker installed in 2006.
"They can do a fix, but when you have a sick heart it's still sick," said Sue. "Tom was told a number of years ago that it would come to this and he would have to have a heart transplant, but quite honestly, when you're told something like that you think it'll get better and we'll do everything right - and you can do everything right and sometimes it doesn't help."
Last year's ejection fraction test revealed Stewart's heart function was only at 10 per cent. He had an open-heart procedure where a ventricular assist device was installed to keep his ticker going because he needed to maintain a certain level of health to be able to withstand the stress of a heart transplant. After his August 8, 2015, heart transplant, Stewart is now up to 65 to 67 per cent, where normal heart function is at about 70 per cent.
About seven months of 2015 was spent in Vancouver for Tom's procedures and lengthy recovery.
"Recovery is fantastic," Stewart said but stressing that he was really sore for about a month and experienced heart flutters every now and then. He will be on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life but it's a small price to pay for the quality of life he now enjoys.
The Stewarts can now fully enjoy visits with their young grandchildren. The couple exercises several times a week and always eats well to maintain a healthy lifestyle so that when the one-year anniversary of Stewart's heart transplant is passed they can do some of the traveling they plan to enjoy for years to come.
"If I can't keep up with you, I'm going to be pretty angry," laughed Sue as she looked at her husband, who is now the picture of robust health.
The couple would like to thank the donor's family and will soon take advantage of having the option to write a letter that will be passed along.
"When you think about it, somebody had to die for Tom to get his heart," said Sue. "Even though we are celebrating, there is a family who is grieving, too."
To become an organ donor visit www.transplant.bc.ca and to donate to the BC Heart & Stroke Foundation's Big Bike Ride visit www.heartandstroke.bc.ca.
