CORNWALL, Ontario – If you had told Mike Scott a year ago that his heart would completely stop, he’d nearly die…and then be released from the hospital barely three weeks after a successful transplant, chances are he wouldn’t have believed you.
But that’s exactly how things unfolded for the Cornwall man who came home Thursday from an Ottawa hospital with what appears to be a new lease on life.
Scott underwent successful heart transplant surgery three weeks ago in Ottawa and amazed doctors with his quick recovery. Typically a transplant patient spends up to six weeks in hospital.
“Everything seems to be progressing well,” he said matter-of-factly on the drive back to his Cornwall home. “They’re not worried about anything, but I had a few heart palpitations.
“If it wasn’t for those few heart palpitations I would have been out last week.”
Scott, as most Cornwall residents now know, suffered a massive heart attack earlier this year and nearly died. At just 37 years of age his heart was finished and he required a transplant.
He expected to wait as long as two years for a new heart, but instead it only two about two weeks.
His heart, pun fully intended, goes out to the family of the deceased individual that Scott now owes his life to.
“I would just thank them non-stop,” he said. “It’s unfortunate what happened but it’s put me in a whole new area now. It’s made me able to live my life again.”
So has the support of the Cornwall community, which has rallied around Mike, his wife Tia and their two daughters. Tia took considerable unpaid time off work to care for her husband, but fundraising has helped stem the tide of bills.
“The community has been amazing,” said Scott. “The way people have come through to help us out has been amazing. If it wasn’t for the community I don’t know if I could pull through it this well. My wife has been home to help me through all this.”
Scott’s recovery will be based on exercising his new heart and getting back into shape – all under the watchful eye of doctors.
“I’m getting stronger every day,” he said. “I’m feeling really good – a little weaker than before I went in for surgery, but the more I’m walking the stronger I am getting.”
