Heart transplant patient and wife share gratitude for donor’s gift as opt-out system becomes law

Luke Ripley’s wife admits it is a struggle to think of a Valentine’s Day gift for her husband. After all, he has already been given a new heart.

Jenny, a primary school teacher, said: “I have no idea what to get him for Valentine’s. When you’ve had a gift as great as this, it’s hard to find anything to match it!”

Eighteen months after his lifesaving transplant, she says Luke, 40, is back to his old self. Well, not quite.

“The new heart has definitely softened Luke,” she said. “He’s more emotional now.

“And we are just thankful for the little things. For Luke being here, for spending time together, the greatest gift we have just now is that we have each other.”

Luke says he can still remember the tense wait in hospital as his fellow patients left, one by one.

“The doctors told me I would either be leaving hospital in a box or with a new heart,” Luke said. “I was one of the lucky ones.”

He spoke of his lifesaving transplant before a change in the law next month when Scotland will move to an opt-out system for organ donation, meaning there will be presumed organ donation unless people have expressly opted out.

Luke, as he says, was lucky. A new heart was found for him just three months after the unexpected news that his own was failing. Three days before his 39th birthday, he was rushed to hospital to discover he had just days left to live. Doctors kept him alive by connecting him to a machine to keep his heart beating.

With 23 years in the military under his belt, and routine medicals, the RAF aeronautical engineer has always been fit and healthy but after suffering flu-like symptoms for five weeks, doctors delivered the shock diagnosis that Luke had dilated cardiomyopathy and would need a transplant as soon as a suitable heart became available.

“It was a real shock,” Luke said. “The doctors told me it was just a bad cold at first and then thought it might be some indigestion problem. But it got to the point where I couldn’t take the bins out and had to sit down at the top of the stairs. My heart rate on my Fitbit went from 60 up to 125.”

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The following morning, Luke woke up with excruciating chest pain. “I had a doctors appointment in a few hours so I thought I would manage until then. But when I got there they put me on an ECG machine and all sorts of bells and whistles were going off which meant it was straight into an ambulance. And that was the start of my magical adventure.”

Luke, who lives in Glenrothes and married Jenny 14 years ago, was transferred from his local hospital to the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Glasgow for urgent treatment. He was stabilised on an intra-aortic balloon pump machine, a lifeline while he waited for a transplant.

“It came as quite a surprise because I’d never had any symptoms at all,” he said. “Initially I kept thinking it wasn’t that serious and everyone was just making a big fuss about nothing.

“In fact I was a bit grumpy that it was looking like I would still be in hospital for my birthday!

“But the doctors were quite blunt when they said I couldn’t leave hospital without a transplant.”

Due to a rare blood type and being 6ft 2ins tall, the category of suitable hearts for Luke was reduced and he was told he could be looking at eight or nine months on the waiting list.

“It was a hard pill to swallow,” he said. “I went from fit and active to bedbound overnight. I realised it was going to be a pretty frightening journey. This could be life for a long time to come.”

Whilst waiting for the call, the balloon pump failed and Luke, convinced he wasn’t going to make it, recorded a final message on his phone for Jenny.

Fortunately, Luke’s emergency surgery was a success, and after one false alarm, he received the life-changing news that a donor heart had been found in September 2019, three months after he was first admitted to hospital.

He said: “I just so happened to be awake at 4am when the transplant coordinator passed my room to see the light on, and came in to share the news that a match had been found. It was a surreal moment when my surgeon bounced into my room a couple of hours later to tell me this was a perfect match for me in every way.

“Of course there were risks, but there was no way I wasn’t having the surgery. Right from day one it had to happen. It was the easiest hard decision I’ve ever had to make. It boiled down to having a transplant – or dying.”

While Luke was in theatre, Jenny waited anxiously for news. And, after a five-hour surgery, was advised Luke had made it through the operation. And the prognosis was looking good.

“As soon as they reattached the heart it was beating so strongly, there was no need for any outside assistance,” Luke said.

The following day, Luke was taken off the ventilator and, only 24 hours later, was able to stand up. Just 12 days after the lifesaving op, he was back home.

Now, 18 months on, he’s feeling like his old self again – albeit with a new heart. And he claims lockdown has provided the perfect opportunity to get back on his feet.

“I’m feeling normal-ish now,” Luke said. “The recovery has been slow and will be an ongoing thing for the rest of my life.

“I have to set an alarm on my phone to remind me to take medication because missing a dose could be fatal, but things are good.

“Lockdown has been a blessing as it has meant slowing down and just letting myself get better instead of putting myself under pressure to do it quickly.”

He added: “The most important thing is that I’m alive today, and that’s thanks to my donor. I’m sad that someone else had to die for me to live, and I think about that every day.

“But if that person hadn’t signed up to be a donor, things could have worked out differently.”

Luke and Jenny have both written to the family of the donor, to show just how grateful they are at Luke’s second chance at life.

“I can’t put into words how valuable this gift is, and I want to make sure I make the most of that gift every day,” Luke said.

Luke is glad to hear the law is now changing.

“In my opinion it has always needed to be an opt-out system,” he said.

“I have always been registered as a donor, and have since used my experience to raise awareness, particularly within the forces. Everyone in my unit has now signed up to be a donor, as they realise this can happen to anyone at any time.

“It’s important to respect that everyone has a choice, but I would urge everyone to look at the impact organ and tissue donation can have on people’s lives.”

For more about the law change, visit organdonationscotland.org