Heart patient a living miracle
Doctors gave him 12 to 18 months to live.
In January 2013, Andre van Rensburg, 51, was told by a heart surgeon he only had 12 to 18 months to live.
Today he is still a fully functional member of the community.
It all started in December 2012 when Andre began feeling short of breath and dizzy. He then went to a heart surgeon in January where they did several tests and scans. The heart surgeon was baffled by what she saw and after intense research, she discovered Andre had Ebstein anomaly – a heart condition mostly found in infants at birth.
In Ebstein’s anomaly, your tricuspid valve – the valve between the chambers on the right side of your heart – doesn’t work properly. Blood leaks back through the valve, making your heart work less efficient. Ebstein’s anomaly may also lead to enlargement of the heart or heart failure.
Statistics show this heart condition occurs in only 1 out of 20 000 infants. As far as the heart surgeon knows, it has never been picked up in an adult. It is mostly fixed and diagnosed at birth.
The heart surgeon then consulted with her colleagues and came to the decision not to take the change in operating as they have never done this before. Andre’s wife, Chrystelle did not give up as she went to a congress in Cape Town to see if their was any help out there. She found out that during this high risk operation, they needed to repair the tricuspid valve, remove a piece of the heart and to do a maze procedure – restore the natural rhythm of the heart.
They were ecstatic to learn there was a cardiologist in Milpark Hospital who was willing to operate on Andre. On 27 February 2013 he went in for this very complicated operation while his family waited anxiously.
The operation had a 50/50 chance of being successful.
Later the anesthetist came out and told Andre’s family there was complications and the next 12 hours was crucial. After that, Andre was in a induced coma for 14 days. Andre then got ICU psychosis – a form of delirium. They battled to get Andre out of his coma, and when they eventually did, they struggled to remove the ventilator.
In the time that he was in a coma, Andre said,
I experienced various spiritual encounters, the presence of God was so definite.”
Only later did Andre and Chrystelle learn the complication that took place during the operation was Andre’s heart stopping and then bursting. The cardiologist had to physically massage Andre’s heart with his hands. After more complications, they eventually shocked Andre’s heart and one day after that he felt so good that he went down to the cafeteria in his wheel chair to visit his family.
He was then released from hospital but again landed up in the ICU where his cardiologist began getting worried about his condition. He was then referred to a lung specialist where he was told there was problems with his diaphragm and in February 2014 he went for a dialysis. Andre once again had his heart shocked and this seemed to better his condition.
Andre is also diabetic and suffers from sleep apnea. Mysleep, a company specialising in sleep conditions partly sponsored Andre with a BiPAP machine which he uses right through the night. He is also on 14 different types of medication and also uses insulin.
Andre’s life is a miracle and he is extremely thankful to God, who decided that it was not yet time for him to die. Andre’s family also supported him through every trail and tribulation.
There is always hope for this heart condition, do not give up and seek help, be thankful for what you have, every day of your life,” Andre said.
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