{"id":11091,"date":"2024-07-30T14:00:15","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T04:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/uncategorized\/second-chance-at-life"},"modified":"2024-07-30T14:29:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T04:29:40","slug":"second-chance-at-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/news\/second-chance-at-life","title":{"rendered":"Dominic gets a new heart and a second chance at life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dominic gets a new heart and a second chance at life<\/h1>\n
\"Dominic

Dominic Joseph is grateful to be alive after receiving a donor heart.<\/p><\/div>\n

It was 2009 and Dominic Joseph had just returned home from travelling overseas when he started experiencing breathlessness, persistent cold and flu symptoms, and nausea after walking short distances.<\/h4>\n

After visiting his GP and a trip to the emergency department, life changed in an instant for the 22-year-old, when cardiologists broke the news that Dominic was in heart failure due to a virus and had around five years left to live.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had asthma as a kid, so thought what I was experiencing was normal,\u201d Dominic said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI attempted to go back to work after my overseas trip, but even after walking short distances from my car to my front door, I felt like throwing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 2014 Dominic was going downhill fast, and discussions of a heart transplant were starting to be had.<\/p>\n

As a last effort attempt, in 2015 the medical team at The Prince Charles Hospital decided to fit Dominic with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) which is implanted in the chest to help pump blood.<\/p>\n

It was here, while Dominic was still in hospital recovering from the LVAD surgery, that fate would find him a perfect match in a donor heart, and he was quickly rushed back into surgery.<\/p>\n

Nine years on, Dominic reflects on what was a \u2018scary time\u2019 for him as he was so unwell but has mixed emotions on being given a second chance at life.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone had to pass, so that I could live,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see things very differently and I appreciate being alive every day, such as even if I wake up and it is cold outside, I am happy to be here and to wake up in my bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every year on his transplant anniversary, Dominic and his partner take their dog to a special spot and release a love
\nheart balloon and light a candle to remember the donor who saved his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone is willing to donate their organs, it will change another family\u2019s life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a recipient, I will always remember and think of my donor and their family.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s DonateLife Week this week with Australians encouraged to talk about organ and tissue donation with family and friends. Find out more information on organ donation.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dominic is given a second chance at life and a new heart thanks to organ donation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":11093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11094,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11091\/revisions\/11094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/tpch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}