Newstalk ZB's Barry Soper in hospital, on the eve of his open-heart surgery. Photo / Shayne Currie
Newstalk ZB's Barry Soper in hospital, on the eve of his open-heart surgery. Photo / Shayne Currie
Newstalk ZB’s Barry Soper is recovering from open-heart surgery and has lost none of his sense of humour after a successful operation on Friday.
“Up the Wahs! All done!!” Soper texted Media Insider on Saturday morning, along with a full heart emoji.
Soper, ZB’s senior political correspondent, underwent triple-bypass surgeryfor about four hours on Friday morning and is expected to be in intensive care for the rest of today, or until early tomorrow. He will be in hospital until next week.
He told Media Insider this morning that the operation had been “very successful”.
He had a little bit of chest pain, but not a lot: “I’m still on the drugs, to deaden it.”
He was about to be taken for a walk with a physiotherapist as part of his first, literal steps to recovery.
In an interview with Media Insider on Thursday evening, Soper revealed more details of the circumstances that led to him being taken to hospital in an ambulance and sounded a warning for other people in his circumstances.
“We’re through the worst of it in terms of the shock and stuff like that, cried all the tears, we need to cry,” she said.
Soper told Media Insider this morning that he had spoken to Du Plessis-Allan following the operation: “She’s ecstatic”.
“It’s an experience,” he said. “I woke up, and thought ‘what day is it?’ I have been out for a while. Another chapter in life.”
Barry Soper in hospital on the eve of his open-heart surgery. Photo / Shayne Currie
On Thursday night, Soper said he’d first started noticing issues about three weeks ago after one of his regular 6km walks with Iggy, from their central city home to the waterfront.
“Typical of males, I think, I was short of breath and I was slightly lightheaded and I thought, ‘oh well’, and thought really nothing of it.
“When I got home I said to Heather that I had this really strange feeling and she said ‘You’re going to the doctor’. And I went ‘No, no, don’t worry about it’. She booked me in.”
He said he continued his walks in the meantime – Du Plessis-Allan accompanied him on one of the outings and saw how laboured he was walking up the hill. They then knew there was a bigger issue.
Initial medical tests showed his cholesterol and organs were fine, and his heart was beating regularly.
But he had to finish a subsequent treadmill ECG test after only a matter of minutes –“I said I have to get off, I’m exhausted” – and an angiogram last Monday revealed four blockages in the coronary arteries, caused by a build-up of calcium.
He was taken to hospital in an ambulance, for which, he said, “I felt a bit of a fraud” because he felt fine, but doctors did not want to take any risks.
Soper said his issues – “and this will make your readers chuckle” – had nothing to do with lifestyle.
Instead, genetics are at play. A fit as-a-fiddle cousin had died while training for a marathon two years ago, while an uncle had similarly died suddenly on his farm at the age of 64, and “my own paternal grandfather had dropped dead at 48″.
“There’s a whole series of young deaths in the family and I suspect that probably all of them had the issue that I’m confronting now,” said Soper, who is in his very early 70s.
“And like me, they didn’t go for a test because they are males and they thought ‘it’s okay – I’m just a bit short of breath, I’ll get over this’.
“I think men tend to do that more often than not. I think the lesson out of all of this is, listen to your body, read your body, but more importantly, listen to your wife.”
Newstalk ZB's Barry Soper and Heather Du Plessis-Allan. Photo / Greg Bowker
He suggested men should have regular check-ups, at least once a year. “The heart is the engine room of your body and everything you are. If that fails, of course, you’re not here.”
Soper paid tribute today to the medical staff including the nurses and surgery team, led by one of New Zealand’s most renowned surgeons, Indran Ramanathan. They had been superb, he said.
Soper, Du Plessis-Allan and Newstalk ZB have received hundreds of messages of support. Politicians including Winston Peters and Christopher Luxon as well as the Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ office have also all reached out.
“The generosity of New Zealanders, I find at times like this, is incredible. I accept the wishes of goodwill very humbly. It’s very nice,” said Soper.
He was holding out hope he could be behind the microphone for Newstalk ZB’s election-night coverage on October 14, alongside Du Plessis-Allan, Mike Hosking and Kate Hawkesby, but that will depend on his recovery.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
