Rotorua transplant recipient Bryan Eckersley has beaten the odds of survival after he was given a new heart 19 years ago.
The 79-year-old was told the average life expectancy of patients after the surgery was 10 years.
“I’m nearly double that. What I’ve achieved in that 19 years is quite incredible, especially when you take my age into consideration now.”
Eckersley had a heart transplant on his birthday in 2005 after he had a heart attack in 2004.
He recently returned from Canberra, where he won seven medals at the 17th Australian Transplant Games, which ran from October 1 to 6.
Eckersley was “living proof” of what people could achieve after organ donation.
He believed he was “doing so well” due to regular exercise.
“I try to promote that – not just for transplant people but for anybody.”
The Australian Transplant Games are held every two years and serve as the country’s largest awareness activity for organ and tissue donation, the Games’ website said.
Nearly 500 participants competed in 19 sports at the 2024 Games, ranging from lawn bowls and petanque to athletics and cycling.
The previous Games were held in 2018 on the Gold Coast. They were to be held in Launceston in 2020 but were cancelled due to Covid.
Eckersley told the Rotorua Daily Post part of his transplant assessment involved answering what he hoped to achieve from the operation.
“I was always a sportsman in my younger days and [said] that I’d like to be able to compete in sports again, which I’ve done.”
Eckersley said he did field hockey, wrestling, speed roller-skating and roller hockey when he was younger.
Now, he does between 10 and 12 hours per week of physical activity, including mountain biking with a group, going to the gym, ten-pin bowling and petanque.
This year was his seventh Australian Transplant Games. He won gold medals in the 5km walk, shotput, discus, ball throwing, petanque and ten-pin bowling, and a bronze in darts in his age group category of 70-79.
His largest medal haul was at the 2016 Games in Sydney, where he won nine medals – six golds and three silvers.
Eckersley said he enjoyed catching up with friends he had made over the years at the Games.
But after not having the event for several years, “it was a little bit sad to hear that so many had passed on”, he said.
“The good part is still being able to compete physically and catch up with those that were there who you’ve been friends with for years.”
Eckersley said the World Transplant Games would be held next year in Dresden, Germany.
“That is a wish list to go there, or Australia the next year to compete in the Australian Games, but it all depends on my health. I’ve been pretty lucky up ‘til now... "
He has also had two knee replacements, “so I do put up with a bit of pain”.
“It’s just part of it. I enjoy doing it, so I put up with it.”
He lives with wife Carolyn, who has been “fantastic” over the years.
“In the early days, you do take a bit of looking after, and she’s always been there.”
Eckersley encouraged people to be organ donors.
“It seems a waste ... that people die and they take their healthy organs with them.
“I was always a donor on my licence, never dreaming of being a recipient. I’m sort of living proof of what being a donor can do.
“Some people [are] just happy to have a good life; some want to do what I’ve done.”
He also encouraged organ donors to make their families aware of their wishes because families could overrule them if they died.
The Ministry of Health website says even if an individual makes it clear before their death they wish to donate their organs, in New Zealand, that person’s family has the absolute right to decline the donation of their loved one’s organs, and their decision must be respected.
Without the consent of the family, organ donation cannot occur.
Organ Donation New Zealand said on its website 64 deceased donors from ICUs in 13 donor hospitals in New Zealand donated organs and tissues for transplantation last year.
A further 57 people donated tissues only following their death. The donations led to more than 200 people receiving life-saving kidney, liver, lung, heart or pancreas transplants.
Many more received tissue transplants, for parts such as cornea, sclera, heart valves and skin.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
The Rotorua law student who authored it says the support was 'overwhelming but inspiring'.