Ray's Words
All Own Research & Writing, and Externally Sourced Information About Cardiac Disease and Heart Transplant Treatment
Nomthandazo Rumbu is used to travelling the road with a child suffering from congenital heart disease. Her daughter, Isemihle, six months-old, was diagnosed shortly after birth by Dr Goosen from Cecilia Makiwane Hospital with two holes in her heart. The
By the backpacks filled with kid’s stuff, the annual cardiac check-up for the Bennet family from East London seems like just another casual fun day out. It’s anything but. Mikenza, 7, and Kellan, 4, both suffer from congenital heart disease,
Noxolo Ntshintshi rattles off a slew of heart conditions – coarctation of the aorta, transposition of the great arteries, single ventricular defect, ventricular septal defect, pulmonary stenosis, hypertrophy of the right ventricle – she had to come to grips with
Until recently, the Eastern Cape had only one full-time cardiologist in the public sector, based at Port Elizabeth’s Provincial Hospital. That post will be vacant soon as the incumbent, Dr Basil Brown, retires at the end of this year and
The unique collaboration between Cape Town’s Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital (RCCH) and two government hospitals in the Eastern Cape has a long history. For many decades, and certainly since long before democracy, specialist physicians and surgeons from
An Introduction to Paediatric Cardiac Care When I was diagnosed with end-stage heart failure in August 2016, in the weeks leading up to my heart transplant on October 11 and in the many months since, I have contemplated how I
On a Monday morning in August, 2016, South African Wayde van Niekerk became the fastest person on earth across 400 meters of an athletics track, raising whoops of unbridled joy and admiration. I was left considering my own slow,
This is an excerpt of a paper on Barnard’s legacy in South Africa and my own implication in that legacy. (Part 4/4) In this paper, I tell the stories of Barnard, Hamilton Naki, Basil Brown, three South Africans whose stories
This is an excerpt of a paper on Barnard’s legacy in South Africa and my own implication in that legacy. (Part 3/4) In this paper, I tell the stories of Barnard, Hamilton Naki, Basil Brown, three South Africans whose stories
This is an excerpt of a paper on Barnard’s legacy in South Africa and my own implication in that legacy. (Part 2/4) In this paper, I tell the stories of Barnard, Hamilton Naki, Basil Brown, three South Africans whose stories
This is an excerpt of a paper on Barnard’s legacy in South Africa and my own implication in that legacy. (Part 1/4) In this paper, I tell the stories of Barnard, Hamilton Naki, Basil Brown, three South Africans whose stories
https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/dire-problems-in-sas-cardiac-health-care-12228519 ‘Dire problems in SA’s cardiac health care’ Weekend Argus / 2 December 2017, 12:09pm / Ray Hartle THE 50th anniversary of the first human-to-human heart transplant is an opportunity to celebrate, but South Africans should also wake up to the reality of the
Provide relevant information to all communities in our country on heart disease and available treatments; Promote an effective recording of deaths in order to get an accurate account of the causes of death and the burden of disease; Lead a
Fifty years ago, unbeknown to the world, the country stood poised to breach one of the most significant frontiers in medical science, the transplantation of a human heart from one person to another. Such a procedure – already perfected in
University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Tim Pennel joined East London cardiologist Dave Kettles in a discussion on the challenges in diagnosing and treating heart disease in South Africa. The event was hosted by Life
http://ehealthnews.co.za/sas-disparity-cardiology-care/
FROM OUR EVENT IN EAST LONDON: CURRENT AND FUTURE FRONTIERS IN HEART DISEASE AND TREATMENT The 50th anniversary of the first human-to-human heart transplant is an opportunity to celebrate, but South Africans must also wake up to the reality
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/desperate-and-frustrated-unemployeddoctors-turn-to-social-media
Algoa FM interview with Jeff Moloi, Thursday, November 22, 2017. https://cms.algoafm.co.za//pod/201711239589.mp3
Link FM interview with Titch Wild, Thursday, May 19, 2017.
Today, I stood at the window again. It was blustery outside, chilly even this side of the pane. I’d thought that the wonderfully soaking rain of the preceding 48 hours across the Eastern Cape would have brought a calm
Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) Media release 29 September 2017 Photo caption: Mbali Mndebele says that her son Monotho has been eating her out of house and home following the successful implantation of his mechanical heart. From Left to right at
This was written around the time of my birthday in 2016, a month before my transplant. And so a word on silence, ignoring things, people, good wishes for one’s health, one’s life. It’s an acute paradox – talking, writing about
In-between stints in hospital last year, there was a madness in my head about sorting out the administrative, legal, practical aspects of living, which seemingly – no, definitely – needed attention before death. It’s the weirdest thing, sending someone a
Heritage, memory and identity. It’s no secret – I’m a sentimentalist. I love nothing more than reminiscing about the past, the good stuff, flipping through memory banks, remembering people, events, experiences. So a national heritage day ought to be a
I tried, I really tried, to personally acknowledge all who sent me blessings, love, good wishes for my birthday, but I realised I would be busy writing or in other ways sending individual responses all day if I didn’t use
There’s a certain ritual which kicks in for me come September. Actually, it starts at the height of winter, as I go walking with my nose in the air, searching for the first scents of jasmine – Jasminum polyanthum. The
CONTESTED LEGACY: MARKING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PROF CHRIS BARNARD’S PIONEERING HEART TRANSPLANT – Ray Hartle The news that Prof Christiaan Barnard of the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital had carried out the
First-ever global study finds massive health care inequity South Africa above the Philippines and below Namibia People dying of preventable causes at rates higher than expected SEATTLE – A first-ever global study finds massive inequity of access to and
By now, most of you know my story, or at least the bit that’s evolved over the past 7 months. As the recipient of the most incredible, miraculous second chance in life, two questions are front and centre of my
The identity of the donor of my second heart (and his or her family) remains anonymous in terms of South African heart transplant protocols. The donor family, also, knows little – if anything at all – of my identity. As
Do you know what today is? It’s our – H2’s and mine – six-month anniversary! We came together on October 11 last year, after four, maybe five hours of painstaking knitting and weaving and uniting of our separate selves. I
(A composite article published in newspapers in April.) On October 11 last year, I received a donor heart in a transplant operation at the private Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital in Cape Town. I was the 216th heart recipient to come
I believe it’s wired into most of us not to be boastful about who or what we are. We take seriously the admonishments against boastfulness passed down to us through the great religious and philosophical texts. As a country, South
With no daylight saving time (DST) policy, South Africa is outside the purview of this research, which concludes more heart attacks occur immediately after the switchover to DST. Good pointers on how our bodies are impacted by social & environmental changes.
It’s mostly about balance – of food, fluids, exercise, emotional wellbeing and medication, especially medication. Getting the right balance is critical for the survival of a heart transplant recipient. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the administering of
There is no doubt that a healthy donor heart has a radically positive impact when transplanted into the chest cavity of someone whose unhealthy birth heart has gone into failure. But the new heart also requires to be handled with
Given that most of us don’t look after our bodies very well, it’s easy to think that those who have heart disease are simply guilty of over-indulgence of food and drink, and lack of exercise. That may be a big
I’m not convinced it was the worst year in collective history – 2016. Some of my contenders for worst year of the millennium are in no danger of being pushed off the chart by the past 12 months. Yes, for
I’ve been down this road before – usually at times of hectic busy-ness, so much to do that one simply gets overwhelmed and the end result is either of slumping in a corner and not achieving anything or trying ever
It might seem a terribly morbid topic to raise during this wonderfully festive holiday period we are entering. But, have you considered that you might be one of the road fatalities that occurs this December-January? And, is it possible that
By the time human organs had been transplanted, many hundreds of operations involving various animals had been performed around the world to test surgical procedures (correctly, many of these experiments would be outlawed by ethics policies today). Kidney transplants from one
It is noticeable that, while most people can recite the names of surgical pioneers like Chris Barnard and transplant recipients like Louis Washkansky and Dorothy Fisher, few of us know the donors who have either voluntarily sacrificed much or whose
There is almost zero access to heart surgery for poor people in rural areas, who typically die without treatment, according to the self-assessment of the heart transplant unit at Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town. The unit,
I would never have been a fan of Professor Chris Barnard, growing up in the 1960s and ’70s. He was, after all, an Afrikaner male in a country ruled by Afrikaner men who made it their life’s mission to legally
People ask me all the time: What does it feel like? I know immediately what they’re referring to, but feign uncertainty and send a question back: What do you mean? They say: Having someone else’s heart in your chest. No different,
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