WHEN 37-year-old Richard Tyler started to feel unwell in October 2013 he thought he was coming down with the flu.

By November he was feeling very unwell and shortly afterwards was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy – a condition where his heart ventricles were enlarged and not pumping properly. It resulted in blood clots in his heart, legs and lungs.

It was a total shock as the warehouse manager, husband and father of two - who cycled six miles to work every day, played golf twice a week and walked the family’s pet dogs every night - was living a healthy lifestyle and had no history of heart problems.

Richard was admitted to Worcestershire Royal Hospital which started treatment for the blood clots and monitored his condition to see how he responded.

But unlike many patients who show signs of improvement with this treatment, his state worsened and on Friday December 13 he was told he needed a heart transplant.

Richard said: “I used to cycle to work without any problems, I was the captain of the golf team and played twice a week and walked the dogs every night. Then I started getting breathless and I could not cycle into work without stopping for a break.

“I thought I was coming down with the flu but I went from being able to do all that exercise to being unable to walk just a few yards.”

Richard, who has been married to oncology research nurse Jayne for 15 years and has sons Sam aged 12 and Owen aged nine, was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QE) in Birmingham.

Due to the treatment he had received at Worcester, his body was already partially prepared for the transplant procedure and he went onto the transplant list on January 2 2014. It was now a case of waiting for a heart that would be the right match.

“Worcestershire Royal Hospital was brilliant and started to treat the clots in my lungs and, because of what they did, I was able to move up the list for a transplant,” said Richard

Richard and Jayne’s lives were thrown into turmoil. Jayne, who works at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, admitted that having Christmas and the boys to deal with while this was all happening helped to keep her going while Richard was faced with conflicting emotions.

He was desperately hoping a suitable heart would become available but knew for that to happen someone else would die.

“I was hoping a heart would come along but someone had to die to help me. I had those two emotions running through me all the time,” said Richard.

He said he went to sleep hoping he would get a tap on the shoulder and a nurse telling him there was a heart for him. In fact Richard has a few false alarms when he was told there could be a suitable heart for him but not to get his hopes up in case it wasn’t a match.

Then, on January 22, a heart which was a suitable match became available and he had the transplant operation. It was a success. He spent four days in the Intensive Care Unit at the QE and then went on a ward for a couple of weeks before returning home to Tewkesbury.

“The day I had the transplant, I had really gone downhill. I think I only had a few more days to live,” said Richard.

Jayne added: “A week after he had the operation he did 20 minutes on an exercise bike. Before the operation he could not get out of bed.”

Richard says the events since October 2013 have not really sunk in but he is now back working full time – although he does not cycle in any more – and is walking the dogs with Jayne every day.

He admits having a health scare of this nature focuses the mind and his priorities have changed. He appreciates the things in his life, particularly his family, much more and never puts off until tomorrow the things he can do today.

“Coming out of the QE was amazing. My senses were heightened to the smells and sights. You notice the things everyone takes for granted.”

Jayne added: “It is such a gift when someone gets a heart transplant. You cannot say thank you – all you can do is live your life in a respectful way. We think about the donor every day.”

The donor who provided a new heart for Richard saved three lives as other organs were used in transplant operations.

Richard and Jayne are now champions for organ donation giving talks, promoting and raising awareness of the issue. They recently attended the RHS Malvern Spring Festival where the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust’s Organ Donation Committee promoted giving the gift of life through a specially designed garden.

The couple handed out leaflets and talked about their experience of life saving organ donation in a bid to increase the number of people signing up to the donor register. The garden, designed by award winning landscape architect Ruth Gwynn and her husband Rupert Keys from Keyscape Gardens in Pershore, received a gold award.

The vast majority of organ donors end up in hospital as trauma patients after an accident, like a road smash or a fall, or after a sudden illness.

Even if a person is on the donor register, consent to take the organs for transplant has to be given by the next of kin at the most distressing time.

Emma Lawson, specialist nurse for organ donation, works at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch supporting the donors’ families and she talks to them about whether they want their loved one’s organs donated for transplant.

“We have to have the conversation with them at the worst time in their life. We offer it as an end of life choice because the person is going to pass away but this is a unique opportunity now where they can go on to help others,” she said.

She added that people in England do not talk about the subject of organ donation enough and their relatives and friends do not know their wishes. “I do not think we talk about this enough. Traditionally the English do not talk about it. Compared to the European consent rates ours are lower.

“The knee jerk reaction from some people is that the family would rather not consent because they did not know what the person wanted.

“The waiting list for organs is getting longer all the time and three people die a day waiting for organs in Britain.

“The donor’s family does get a wealth of comfort from it and they do get updates on how the organ recipient is doing,” said Emma.

“The majority of families are so keen to go ahead because they are desperate for something positive to come out of their tragic circumstances.

“There are people in Worcestershire who are waiting for an organ and there are sadly people in Worcestershire who will die waiting.”

To sign up for organ donation visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk, text SAVE to 84118 or call 0300 123 2323. People can also register when they renew their driving licence, register with a GP and through the Boots Advantage card.