Calling for help in a heartbeat
A woman’s cry for help has been heard and hope that her husband’s heart will be safe, is high.
Mrs Madelein Tiearney’s husband Andre underwent a major heart operation on August 28, 2013. The doctors removed a piece of his heart and planted an Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in his heart, in early September.
Throughout December Tiearney’s husband suffered from several heart attacks and fortunately for him, the ICD served its purpose.
After suffering from his first heart failure, Tiearney was taken to Life Cosmos Hospital where he was defibrillated. He had to be transported to Wilgers Hospital for further treatment due to eMalahleni’s hospital’s lack of the correct facilities.
From Wilgers he was taken to Sunny Hill hospital where
Dr Anthony PJ Stanley (cardiologist) conducted the surgery for the ICD.
Stanley released Tiearney, accompanied with a doctor’s note requesting
that a landline be laid to their home in Seekoeiwater Plots. The reason being is that Tiearney makes use of a machine he places on his chest to relay the ICD’s reports and settings to Dr Stanley in Sandton. The
doctor can then calibrate the ICD remotely and with this assist Andre Tiearney, should he have any future heart attacks.
“One morning my husband woke me up at 03:00 and said it might be
his time, this broke my heart and that is why I am doing everything
I can to make his life easier,” said Ms Tiearney, with tear filled eyes.
Tiearney contacted Telkom requesting that a landline be laid down,
but met with a number of issues, she was told that there was no infrastructure and that there would be delays.
“Its unacceptable, maybe they don’t understand the seriousness of the situation but its my husband’s life and its extremely serious for me, people might get the wrong idea, I am NOT a bad person, I just care deeply for my husband,” she added.
A request was sent to Telkom, and the matter has been reviewed by the national help desk, this poses well for the Tiearney’s as they were notified that the landline would be laid within this week.
*Note: An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is a small battery-powered electrical impulse generator that is implanted in patients who are at risk of sudden cardiac death due to ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The device is programmed to detect cardiac arrhythmia and correct it by delivering a brief electrical impulse to the heart.
