Colin Sainty knows what it’s like to see life flash before your eyes. His recent near-fatal heart failure prompted him to encourage more men not to delay seeing their GP when they don’t feel quite right.
Colin also wants men to be more proactive in regards to their health, to ask questions and push for answers.
Colin, aged 57, had been experiencing breathlessness for 18 months while ocean swimming, but he continuously brushed it aside and put it down to anxiety and the challenging water conditions.
He’d also started coughing up fluid after swimming and other physical activity but as he was an active, hardworking mechanic with a business to run he defaulted to the, ‘She’ll be right’ maxim. It wasn’t until the situation became unbearable that Colin finally went to his GP to investigate the cause.
“I had a lung function test and lung scan which didn’t really reveal any lung issue and when I got the written report I really didn’t read it. I just left it up to others to tell me if something else needed to be done,” Colins says.
Colin says he went on with his life and it was only when his long-time partner, Jane Kelsbie, took a closer look at the report that they saw a notation at the bottom of the page mentioning that a heart check was recommended.
After returning to his GP and demanding further tests Colin was booked in for a heart ultrasound and stress test but the appointment was a whole month away due to a long queue for appointments.
When Colin got moved up the appointment list, due to a cancellation, it was literally a stroke of luck as his tests showed alarming results; he was quickly hospitalised for further tests. He was then diagnosed with a life threatening autoimmune condition called sarcoidosis. The condition is extremely rare and even rarer to be found in the heart. When it occurs in the heart it interrupts the electrical pulses and stops the heart muscles from functioning.
Colin immediately had a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted under his skin. This saved his life when his heart stopped just four weeks later.
“I was sitting reading a book and suddenly my eyes went funny and I remember nothing else until I woke up with my partner Jane standing over me. We thought I’d had a stroke as my speech was slurred so Jane called the ambulance and when the doctor viewed the defibrillator data they told me I’d flatlined. I’d actually died and the defibrillator rebooted my heart and saved my life.”
Colin said he would not be here today had it not been for three key factors.
“Had I not gone to the doctor when I did, had Jane not read the report and pushed for further tests and had I not got the earlier appointment for the heart tests, I would be dead!
“The whole journey has been an absolute wake-up call. My message is don’t put off going to the doctor and don’t be afraid to push for answers as your health is your responsibility.”
