Transplant surgery has undergone huge medical advances in the past few years. But for patients

and their families, the life-or-death operations remain understandably traumatic. Clive White reports how Colin Ward uses his own experiences of two transplant operations to give help through the Keighley-based Transplant Support Network

COLIN WARD laughed when I dared call him the Bionic Man.

"I think I must be, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I wouldn't be here now if not,'' he said.

He is living proof that life can be happy and fulfilling after transplant surgery.

He has had two hearts, a new kidney and two new hips over the past 15 years since his first heart transplant in May 1983 in the early days of the pioneering surgery at Papworth Hospital, in Cambridgeshire.

An adoptive Tyke - he and his wife Margaret hail from Essex - he regards it as appropriate that his second heart transplant was on Yorkshire Day, August 1, 1991.

"We've been here more than 30 years and I still can't class myself as a true Yorkshireman but I'm proud that my two children are,'' said 56 year-old Colin, of Branshaw Grove, Keighley.

He is one of a number of transplant patients across the country who are supporting the Keighley-based Transplant Support Network, set up by Jo Hatton, one of the longest-lived heart and lung transplant patients, who died last summer.

In November, Jo's husband Phil Hatton established the Jo Hatton Memorial Fund to raise cash to employ a worker to help develop the network. Jo, who died aged 45, survived 13 years after her surgery at Papworth, and she believed that support for patients and family was vital in helping people cope with the trauma of transplant.

Colin became a close friend of Jo and Phil and he has already helped to "counsel'' at least one person facing a similar operation to his own.

"It is so important to speak to someone who has been in the same position. It's good for the patient and the family and helps put things in perspective,'' said Colin.

"I recently spoke to a chap who is waiting for a heart and lung. He was anxious, obviously, but I hope I managed to put his mind at rest.''

Relatives too need support, as retired teacher Margaret, 52, knows from experience.

"It becomes a very stressful time and sometimes you need somebody to talk to, even scream at," she said. "It is very worrying at the beginning because you don't know what is happening. Colin just wanted to get on with the operation. People would come up and ask how Colin was and sometimes you feel left alone - you wish someone would ask about you.''

Colin was only the 50th person to be given a new heart by the team at Papworth in 1983. That heart lasted about seven years before the concoction of drugs took its toll on it and his kidneys.

But Colin knew that anything over five years in those days was a bonus.

So when he knew he needed another heart, plus a kidney, he took a positive stance. "I wanted to get on with it. It was another chance at life - that was the way I looked at it."

The operation in 1991 involved replacing his old heart and grafting a new kidney on to a kidney which was damaged.

Those facing transplant surgery today have a lot to thank people like Colin for, in many respects people like him have been guinea pigs. Medical technology and treatment has moved on so rapidly, even since his last transplant, that life for patients after surgery is much easier.

They won't have to take as many as 17 pills a day and the problems of organ rejection are far less.

Colin, who has three grandchildren, lives life to the full. He has his down days but enjoys walking his dog Sandy, occasionally whacking a golf ball and every year looks forward to summer jaunts in France in his caravan.

l Anyone who wants to support the Jo Hatton Memorial Fund should write to the Transplant Support Network, KVS, 135 Skipton Road, Keighley BD21 3AV or phone (01535) 210101.

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