Meet BRETT

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“Keep becoming better."

Brett was 39 years old when he emigrated from South Africa to WA with his wife and two young children. However, not long after settling into their new home in Secret Harbour, Brett began to feel tired and developed flu-like symptoms. After his supposed flu still hadn’t resolved two weeks later, he booked in to see his GP.

Unfortunately, Brett’s symptoms worsened, and as he went into a third day of tests, he started to look grey, and his lips turned blue, prompting his doctor to send him immediately to the hospital.

Originally, doctors thought Brett’s sickness was due to his gallbladder, and they booked him in for surgery to have it removed the following day. To everyone’s surprise during a final ultrasound prior to the scheduled surgery, Doctors discovered Brett was actually experiencing chronic heart failure.

The news shocked Brett, as he’d always been fit and healthy, a keen swimmer, who didn’t drink or smoke. Doctors suspected that his chronic heart failure and illness were likely caused by an unknown virus that had attacked and destroyed his heart.

Brett began medicinal treatment, however after three months with no improvements, he was placed on the transplant list.

One Saturday morning, after an anxious seven month wait, Brett received a phone call from the WA Heart and Lung Transplant team at Fiona Stanley Hospital. 24 hours later, Brett had received a new heart and was back on the path to good health.

Seven and a half years after his successful transplant, Brett tries his best to juggle his time between his family, working full-time as a chemist, swimming, and promoting awareness of the importance of medical research and organ donation.