Man Discovered He Needed New Heart After Borrowing Friends Fitbit
A 30-year-old man's life was saved after he borrowed a mate's Fitbit and discovered he needed a new heart.
Ryan Gabb had been suffering flu-like symptoms for weeks when he started to feel more sick.
He realised something even more serious might be happening when he attached the device to himself.
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He was shocked to discover a heart rate of over 100 beats per minute when he tried on the fitness gadget, which also quality of sleep and even the number stairs climbed in a day.
After seeing his heart rate, he was taken to hospital and told he was suffering from Dilated Cardiomyopathy - a disease of the heart muscle.
He later had an emergency heart pump fitted and is now on the urgent heart transplant waiting list.
Ryan, of Wrexham, North Wales, said: "I had been feeling unwell for a few weeks, just general tiredness and flu type symptoms that I couldn’t shake off.
"It was gradually getting worse and I was starting to become breathless too. Knowing something wasn’t right, I borrowed a friend’s Fitbit to check my heart rate and it was over 100.
"I knew I needed to get checked out, so I left work early and went to the doctors. The GP sent me straight to the local hospital where I was told I had Dilated Cardiomyopathy and I would likely need a heart transplant.
"I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and was in complete shock, I knew I hadn’t been well but was not expecting anything so serious.”
Ryan, who has been on the transplant list for four years, had to give up his job as a factory worker. He is now looking toward the future after being fitted with the heart pump known as an LVAD.
Ryan said: "I am doing pretty well at the moment with the LVAD but waiting for a transplant can be hard, there is a constant need to have my phone with me and I need a regular electricity supply so my LVAD batteries can be charged.
"The worry of power cuts is always in the back of my mind. I have been told I could have a long wait for a heart.
“I hope the year ahead can bring some normality and I also hope more people will discuss organ donation with their families and register their decision."
Anthony Clarkson is director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant.
He said: “Thousands of people across the UK are waiting for the call that a donor has been found to save or transform their life, and hundreds of them need a heart transplant. We encourage everyone to have that heart-to-heart now.
“Talk to your family and tell them your organ donation decision, leave them certain of it. And make sure you know what they would want too, so you can support their decision."
Rebecca Shepherd