New heart, renewed competition

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This article was published 06/08/2016 (3460 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mark Miles puts his heart into everything he does.

As a father of two children, teacher for 34 years, principal of Marymound school, hockey coach and (later) president of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League during the past 25 years, there’s not much that can slow him down.

Not even when the 60-year-old found out last year he needed a new heart.

Less than 11 months after having a heart transplant, Miles will be competing in five events in the Canadian Transplant Games, Aug. 8-13 in Toronto, including the five-kilometre and 20-km cycling events, 50-metre and 200-metre freestyle swims, and a 100-metre run.

His old heart might have skipped a beat, except it wasn’t really doing that job anymore thanks to enterococcus faecalis, an invasive infection that attacked Miles’ bloodstream, spine and heart for reasons no doctor has yet been able to find.

Rewind to the spring of 2015 when Mark was admitted to St. Boniface Hospital.

It was an excruciating time for his children, son Matt, 21, and daughter Meghan, 19, who both put their lives on hold to be with their dad. Miles’ brother, Gord, was at the hospital with him nearly the whole time.

On June 30, 2015, Miles had surgery to replace an aortic valve but he said doctors “knew then that my heart was done.”

He found himself in heart failure, gasping for breath just to speak.

He found out during the 2015 August long weekend there were no other options and he would need a heart transplant.

After many tests, he was put on the national waiting list.

Knowing many people wait years and never receive the organ they need, Miles steeled himself for what was coming, or worse, what might not ever come. He said only about 170 heart transplants are done per year in Canada and only about 4,000 worldwide.

“You live for your children,” he said. “That creates the biggest fight in you to stay alive.”

After less than a month of waiting, a nurse raced into his room and told him a match with a donor had been found.

On Sept. 25, 2015, Miles received a heart.

“It was 1:30 in the morning and the nurse said, ‘Get up! Get up! They’ve got a heart for you in Ottawa! Your brother has 30 minutes to get down here!’” he said.

Miles was soon aboard a flight to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. By 5 p.m., he had a new heart.

“My donor was a 36-year-old male who died of a brain aneurysm,” Miles said, noting recipients are allowed to ask three questions: age, gender, and circumstances of the donor’s death.

“I was very lucky. I was close to being dead.”

Before he got sick, the 5-foot-11 Miles weighed 207 pounds. On the day of his transplant, he weighed 163 pounds.

His shockingly quick recovery has been his second miracle.

“I was very fortunate. I got the heart, I sat up the next day, I walked two days later, and I was back in the gym five weeks later,” he said.

“From the time I got sick until I was back in the gym was an eight-month stretch of time.”

Once back home, Miles was at the hospital for a check-up when one of his former doctors stopped him in the hallway.

“He asked if he could get a picture with me and I said, ‘Sure, why?’ He said, ‘Because I never thought I would see you again.’”

Even now, Miles said he is overwhelmed by the gift of the organ and receiving a transplant as quickly as he did.

He said writing the letter to his donor’s family — anonymous from both sides — was extremely difficult and took some time, as he was often overcome with emotion.

“It’s an amazing gift. But how do you say this when somebody had to die so that you could live?” Miles said.

Miles urges all Manitobans, and everyone they know, to sign up as an organ donor or at least make their wishes to “give the gift of life” known.

“It’s important that you talk to your loved ones about wanting to be a donor because when someone passes away, they’re going to ask you right there and then, did this person want to donate?” he said.

“We want that information online and we want to ask everyone to do that.”

Manitoba has one of the lowest numbers in Canada of registered donors, but there are signs that’s changing. Transplant Manitoba’s online registry (signupforlife.ca) had reached 15,000 donors as of June 1.

Matt and Meghan both said it is hard to put into words how grateful they are to have their dad with them and that he’s strong enough to compete in the Canadian Transplant Games.

“It’s was a crazy year. When you’re in the moment, you just keep moving forward. There wasn’t really a time I sat there and considered how close he was to death,” Matt said.

“Just seeing him back, to what he’s doing now, it’s so inspirational, it’s cool. I’m just so proud of him and how hard he worked physically and mentally to get back to where he is today.”

After the transplant, Miles had hoped to be home for Christmas, but he was home much earlier — in time for Thanksgiving and he made it out to watch Matt’s football playoff games with the St. Vital Mustangs.

“Christmas Day, we all went skating and I think the moment I saw him there, I was just so happy to see him back to his old self. It was just a matter of staying strong for him and I don’t think I really processed it until later,” said Meghan, who recently got a tattoo of the word “Believe” in her father’s handwriting on the underside of her left forearm.

Miles said he has “Believe” as his motto on his athlete’s card for the Canadian Transplant Games.

He believes his healthy, active lifestyle before he got sick helped speed his recovery.

His belief in the power of family and love for his children motivated him to seize life, right where he left off 11 months ago.

So Monday in Toronto, with Matt and Meghan who are making the trip with him to cheer him on from the sidelines, Miles will get that new heart pumping like never before.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca