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Blueridge Good Neighbour Day to celebrate 20th anniversary. May 2017
9900 Circulation East of the Seymour River
Golfer back in full swing after heart transplant by BEN BENGTSON When Blueridge resident Brett Third gets to Spain this summer to play competitive golf he’ll discuss strategy and tactics with his teammates and perhaps even trade barbs with opponents. But before too long the conversation will likely turn to more pressing matters: the intricacies of his heart – and the medications necessary to keep it alive, well and ticking. Given the exclusive club he’s part of, the shop talk is not surprising. And it won’t be a stretch if the liver, kidneys and lungs find their way into the discourse as well. Like many throughout the world, Third is the recipient of an organ transplant – a new heart he received three and a half years ago after living with congestive heart failure for several years previously. Third, who divides his time between Blueridge and Whistler, is also an athlete. Despite his past health challenges, he’s eager to showcase his athletic and competitive verve at this year’s World Transplant Games June 25 to July 2 in Málaga, a Mediterranean port city located on Spain’s southern coast. The games have a simple message for the world: demonstrating the benefits of successful organ transplants through recipients participating in full athletic competitions. Drawing attention to the importance of organ donation is another equally significant goal. The host city will be alive and brimming with picturesque views when transplant athletes from across the world arrive this June for the 21st summer games, ready to compete in 14 sports, including basketball, golf, cycling and track and field. But alongside Spain’s stunning scenes this summer, another scene will be taking place among the transplant athletes – many of whom are now good friends. “You can’t imagine how excited I am,” Third says about this year’s games as well as reconnecting with
his transnational pack of transplant pals. “You’ve got something in common. You’ve been through the same things. … To have somebody that you can talk to that’s having the same experience as you – it doesn’t happen every day.” Third first competed as a golfer in the transplant games in Argentina back in 2015. It was a physically and mentally challenging pursuit for him to get there in the first place. On Halloween morning seven years ago, Third was getting ready to go exercise, when all of a sudden he just “dropped.” “They took me to Lions Gate but I didn’t get out of the ambulance there because the doctors realized I needed to get to St. Paul’s right away. … The left side of my heart atrophied. We tried several things to get that back,” Third explains. For the next five years, Third, alongside his family and doctors, tried everything possible to restore his heart’s functionality and avoid a transplant. But it all proved ineffectual. “Quality of life was pretty poor. In fact, I don’t remember it,” Third says about the sense of delirium his illness caused. After much consultation, Third underwent a heart transplant procedure on Sept. 19, 2013. After more than a year of adjusting to his new heart and the multitude of drugs he was taking, things started to change. He could suddenly think clearer and had more energy. “It was fairly quickly that I started feeling like I could think straight again,” he says. Organ transplant recipients, specifically ones who have received a new heart, are encouraged to exercise and move around – but it has to be done with care. He participated in a cardiac rehabilitation program called Healthy Heart at St. Paul’s that’s partly designed to get patients exercising again. “I wouldn’t have been confident to do what I did without (the St. Paul’s staff),” Third insists. “I had it in my
Blueridge resident Brett Third will compete in the World Transplant Games this summer in Spain, reconnecting with fellow transplant friends from around the world. PHOTO MIKE WAKEFIELD
mind that I was going to golf and that was it. That was a thing I was going to be able to do.” Just as pressing on Third’s mind, however, was – and is – his insistence
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