25th March 2010
Last March I signed up to be screened when the CRY team visited my school, QEH Bristol, merely as a precaution, not expecting anything to be wrong. However, there was something wrong.
The ECG revealed me to have Wolff-Parkinson White syndrome, and as a keen sportsman, this came as a huge surprise. I knew very little about heart syndromes, and what I presumed was that they mainly affected the old or obese.
Unfortunately immediately after being scanned I made the big mistake of looking up WPW on Wikipedia and was greeted by a number of scary facts. Though after coming to terms with the facts, and overcoming the initial wish that I could forget all about the problem at hand, I realised how fortunate I had been.
Through the CRY website and other sources I soon became aware of how many young people are not as fortunate as I was. The first time they discovered they had a problem, it was too late.
In order to combat the syndrome, I initially went on medication, before I had the Cardiac Ablation operation in June. Despite the high success rate of the operation, and the surgeon operating on me for over six hours, the operation was not a success. This was very hard to take, as I desperately wanted to move on, get back to my normal life.
A few months later though I was back in the Operating Theatre, and although this time even more nervous as I was without General Anaesthetic, the operation worked.
It felt fantastic to be back on the football pitch, to be free from the worries. However, now I was aware of such heart syndromes, I was keen to do my bit to raise both funds and awareness.
As such my school have invited CRY back again this year, and I’ve encouraged as many other boys to undergo the screening. Furthermore, I organised a Charity Auction for the pupils and parents.
I was very fortunate to receive the support of many celebrities, sports stars and companies, allowing the Auction to boast an impressive collection of ‘lots’.
Whether it be the signed celebrity memorabilia (from such stars as Gordon Brown, Manchester United, Usain Bolt, Roger Federer and Sir Tom Jones), fine artwork or show tickets, there was something for everyone.
The evening proved very popular and with many very willing to donate money to the worthy cause, we raised a fantastic total of over £4100.
I’m very glad I was able to help CRY in this way, and hope I can do more for the charity in the future. Without them, I don’t know where I would be right now.
James Bailey
