Damien Keogh, a 33-year-old husband and father of two, is a heart transplant recipient as of July 2015.

Like so many others, Damien’s decline into extremely serious illness was quite fast. Following the contraction of a virus in November 2014, his heart became irrevocably damaged. Early 2015 saw no improvement with a Left Ventricular Assist Device being seen as the only means by which to aid his damaged heart at that point. However, during the procedure, his heart stopped beating for a total of 12 minutes, during which time he also suffered a stroke. So serious was this development that Damien set a hospital record for blood units received in a 24 hour period.

Following this, Damien had the LVAD in place until his transplant in July 2015. During this period, he was called to be assessed for three different hearts. One of said calls even saw him being brought to theatre only to discover upon waking up the following day that the surgery had not taken place. The third call, however, proved to be the one for him.

Damien’s recovery was a swift one. He spent a few weeks in hospital and was even able to attend a friend’s wedding in August.