JAMIE POOLE: And there’s eight seconds, so I like to call them ‘eight seconds of dying’.
When I know I have gone into cardiac arrest and you get this dread feeling, you get sickness.
I know when it’s going to happen. I’m living a normal life and I just happen to drop dead every now and again.
JAMIE POOLE: I am Jamie. I am 29 and I have died nine times.
When I was 20, I literally just dropped dead at a train station and they took 45 minutes to CPR. I woke up a
week later from a coma. Second time was at my cousin’s. Third time I went straight into cardiac arrest.
The fourth time I was walking up the stairs of my office. Actually, I am sorry, I need to cut that because that’s six.
And I woke up and I was at the bottom of the stairs, sprawled. So the seventh time, walking to work again.
Stupidly I went back to work. I wake up and a freelancer is cradling my head towards the ground
and everybody is looking at me. The eighth time I got shaved in front of 300 people at the airport.
The ninth time I actually remember seeing the physiologist slam the emergency stop button on the
treadmill. He actually yelled out, ‘I need some help in here.’
JAMIE POOLE: I have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a genetic heart condition that causes your
muscles to swell and grow bigger than what it should, which causes complications.
JAMIE POOLE: I have a ICD implanted, which is an Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator.
JAMIE POOLE: That device acts as my last resort. So when my heart goes into an arrhythmia and sort of heads
towards cardiac arrest, it picks that up and monitors it and then if necessary delivers a defibrillation or a shock
that sort of resets the system.
JAMIE POOLE: About three years ago, I actually had probably the scariest doctor’s appointment I’ve ever had,
where Dr. Varnava sort of told me that my heart probably wouldn't last another five years.
So transplant may be the only option. This can help me live a longer life.
DR. AMANDA VARNAVA: I’m very pleased that we’ve had stability with the rhythm side of things which is
your main issue and why we even referred you to be considered for transplantation.
Jamie has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is not an uncommon condition. Some individuals with the
condition can run into issues with risk of sudden collapse or even sudden death.
Jamie has a more severe form of it and to have that many appropriate shocks is quite unusual.
However, we do know that it is possible to have a rhythm abnormality that if you sort it out, it is then fully
compatible getting on and getting on with life.
I always want to support every patient to do some aerobic exercise. But in you, I am more hesitant than I
would be because of the shocks you have had in the past.
JAMIE POOLE: It’s weird advice to hear from a doctor that walking and maybe even cycling at a slow speed is
the most that I am allowed to do. Stairs seem to be my mortal enemy in a way.
It’s actually sort of in-trial I think at the moment. So I am a bit of a test dummy on whether or not that helps
people with my condition. But you know, why not?
JAMIE POOLE: I’d like to say that I’ve had every near-death experience possible.
I’ve had the ‘out of body’ experience. I have had the ‘white light’, the ‘golden light’ experience.
JAMIE POOLE: I don’t believe in the afterlife. But obviously after experiencing these first-hand,
I can definitely understand why people believe.
JAMIE POOLE: I must get a death definitely. It is a horrible thing to go through.
Just the thought of knowing that I may not wake up after having one of these events. That’s like my biggest fear.
JAMIE POOLE: I’d like to think that I now have a broader outlook on life. If I have spare money, I want to spend it
on experiences and travel and sort of seeing the world. Obviously a lot of the theme park rides and experiences
often say, ‘Do not ride these with a heart condition.’ I like to ignore them.
JAMIE POOLE: I think I’m risking a little bit more just for those moments of experience.
JAMIE POOLE: It’s quite funny, every time my Mum calls, she ask me, ‘Have you died this week?’
Which you know I am happy to answer, ‘Not this week.’ Technology is moving at a rapid pace. Who knows,
I might have my own custom heart built out of stem cells. We don’t know what’s coming.
So as long as I can live long enough to see those sort of improvements then I am happy.