PLEASE HAVE A HEART AND HELP US TO HELP PIET PHILLIPS!

As WINGS OF LOVE NPO, it is our express wish to assist this deserving struggling family and alleviate their financial stress at least. Every cent will count to help Piet and Tracey clear their debts and cover their expenses. We are appealing to kind souls who are willing and able to please help in raising R 25 000.

We thank you in anticipation of your kind contributions.

Piet Phillips was born with a transposition of his pulmonary arteries, i.e., the left and right side of his heart were unnaturally swapped around. In those years (1967) Medicine had not yet advanced to where it is today and thus cardiologists and pulmonary thoracic surgeons could not reverse them as they can today. In simple terms, a bridge was constructed across his heart between the chambers. Prof Chris Barnard and his brother Marius Barnard performed the surgeries.

Piet’s wife Tracey tells us the heart wrenching journey that they have walked together through very trying times, mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially. Ill health has a ripple effect on an entire family, affecting the psychological well being of the children, financial ramifications and so many traumatic effects. Through it all, they have lovingly stood together in the hope of Piet making a recovery and living a life as normal and meaningful as possible.

It is evident that Tracey is a loving caring and supportive wife. The family live in Queenstown which requires a fair amount of traveling for Piet’s health requirements.

Piet has been on meds all his life. In 1997 his lung burst, and he had to be rushed to East London, and a week later to Port Elizabeth. In PE 1/3 of his left lung was removed. However, his health continued to deteriorate. He was referred to world renowned Dr Susan Vosloo, and in March 1998 she performed open-heart surgery on him. This was his 4th operation, and he was only 30.

The doctors then started speaking about the possibility of a heart transplant for Piet. In 2006 he had root canal treatment and the dentist neglected to mention that due to him being a heart patient, that he had to be on an antibiotic for a week before the procedure.

Due to this negligence, he got an infection which later developed into Septicaemia in all his organs. He was in ICU for 31 days and it was touch and go. He came out of hospital and on the night of 31 August/1 September 2006 he died and had to be resuscitated twice. What followed was that Piet was then in a coma for 3 days. After being discharged from hospital again he remained blue, indicative of lack of oxygen. He could no longer work.

In 2009 Piet was sent to Cape Town Heart Transplant unit where he was placed on the list of waiting recipients. He had to come to Cape Town twice a year for check-ups. At the end of 2011, and the start of 2012 he came to Cape Town 3 times. This is when he met Prof AO. He was prepared to delay a transplant and do an ablation, i.e., quarterize the heart so it could function better.

In 2012 it was decided that a pacemaker would be inserted which was life changing for 6 years. For the first time Piet was able to live a more or less a normal life. Piet could work and spend time with Tracey and their children. This is something that every family takes for granted, but for the Phillips family this was extraordinary.

Unfortunately, in 2018 his pacemaker perforated his skin, and it was back to PE within 24hours. An infection had spread to his heart and after 5 hours on the operating table (which should have been 3 hours), coding twice and transfusing twice, he was in ICU for 7 days and on a ventilator for 3 days. He coded again the Sunday evening.

Sadly, due to having to spend 5 weeks in hospital and a further 2 weeks in PE he lost his job. In March 2019, a company was prepared to give him a chance, but he later had to stop due to his failing health. In April 2019, the doctors decided to insert another pacemaker which unfortunately only lasted a year in its efficacy.

In 2020 another long journey started for Piet and his family. In March 2020, the pacemaker had to be removed and repositioned as he had an infection and a hematoma on the pacemaker. A month later while Tracey was cleaning his wound, she pulled out what looked like a stitch. That was confirmed the next day and a few days later both Piet and Tracey were on their way to Cape Town to the transplant team. He had 3 operations in 3 days and spent a week in ICU. Due to COVID-19 Tracey was unable to see him. It was discovered that he picked up a super bug in the PE hospital which also had to be treated.

In listening to such a devastating story, one wonders how anyone can have the stamina to endure such ongoing stress and literal heartache.

Both his cardiologists in PE have declared him unfit to work until such time that he can receive the transplant or alternatively they decide to do a LVAD, which is a mechanical heart attached to his heart.

Piet and Tracey have been advised that they will need to make another trip to Cape Town later this year for yet another assessment. Due to his severe heart condition, his kidneys have been adversely affected and he has sores on his feet. This has caused him to be hospitalised several times, sometimes for up to 2 weeks at a time.

Piet needs to make regular trips to PE to visit his doctors there.

Sadly, besides the emotional and physical stress that this has caused Piet and his family, he is also extremely stressed about his financial situation, not being able to work. He is sitting with debt to his Medical Aid, his car repayments, his and his wife’s cell phone contracts as well as needing to cover the cost of medications which are not covered by the Medical Aid.

As Tracey is the sole bread winner and earns very little to fund a family, they are understandably in great financial distress.

This is stressful to anyone in the situation but especially to a heart patient who needs to keep his stress levels minimal.

We all know that life does not allow this privilege.

As WINGS OF LOVE NPO, it is our express wish to assist this deserving struggling family and alleviate their financial stress at least. Every cent will count to help Piet and Tracey clear their debts and cover their expenses. We are appealing to kind souls who are willing and able to please help in raising R 25 000.

We thank you in anticipation of your kind contributions.