Defying the odds yet again
by Jenny McEntegart
Athlone man Brendan Lannon is someone who has defied all odds.
This is a man who had open heart surgery as a baby, a stroke at 22 and a heart transplant at 30.
Now he has married the woman of his dreams, Christine Roche Lannon, and the couple are expecting a baby this December, despite being told by doctors that he might never be able to have children.
“Our wedding last October was an amazing day,” Brendan says. “To marry the woman of my dreams surrounded by all our friends and family, whom we had not seen for two years due to me having to be very cautious during the pandemic was an unbelievable experience. To sit here and call myself a husband and soon-to-be father is amazing. It’s something I never thought would be possible and to be honest hard to believe given that I was fighting for my life just under nine years ago.”
“Our little bundle of joy is even more special because I always thought it was off the cards for me, so far all is going well with Christine’s pregnancy, and we cannot wait for our first Christmas as parents," he says from his Coosan home. When Brendan was a baby, he was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. Fearing for his life, his parents had him immediately baptised in the delivery suite of the hospital.
He did not have a carefree childhood but despite this, Brendan describes himself as a healthy young lad, except for when he’d get the flu, impacting him more than most.
However, Brendan suffered a stroke at the age of 22, only a week before he was due to fly to the US for a role as a summer camp counsellor, He was in the bathroom when signs began to show. A headache he had been fighting all morning suddenly grew more intense.
His right leg felt strange, he passed it off as perhaps a bit numb, but quickly realised it was more serious.
“I tried to speak but it was just gibberish. I knew there was something very wrong and I had to act quickly. I lowered myself to the floor and used all my strength to crawl to the door. I still don’t know how I managed it.”
He speaks of the relief he felt upon finding his sister, who was standing impatiently outside.
Brendan seems oblivious to his stoicism; his innate strength and courage goes unnoticed by him. His resilient nature is illustrated when he recalls chatting to friends from hospital that night, assuring them he’d be on for the pub at the weekend. At the youthful age of 22, a stroke is a harsh reality to face, but there is no trace of self-pity.
The following morning, when attempting to get out of bed, Brendan's legs gave way and he collapsed. He was then quickly referred to the Mater Hospital, Dublin where he then spent three weeks in recovery. The stroke affected his speech. “I still have some weakness on my right side and big words escape me sometimes, but nothing too bad.”
In 2010 Brendan’s heart struggled more to find the right rhythm.
A pacemaker was implanted but failed to improve his condition to any significant degree. So, towards the end of that year he underwent a cardioversion. 2012 was the first real indication that his condition was declining. The pacemaker was removed, and an ICD was implanted. The following four years saw Brendan spend a considerable amount of time in hospital as his heart function was gradually deteriorating.
While the word transplant had circulated once or twice during consultations it was always referred to as a far-off prospect. “I knew I might have to face that in my 50s or 60s. Never did I think at twenty-eight I was going to be listed for one because I was in right sided heart failure.”
After numerous tests and evaluations Brendan signed up to what would be a nine-month wait for a heart transplant. It was at this juncture he was told he may never be able to have children.
The transplant went ahead on the third occasion, after the first two donors proved not to be a match.
On January 9, 2014 shortly after 9pm Brendan received the call that saved his life.
“My parents had just gone back to Maynooth for the evening. My sister, who had been out with friends in Dublin, came to the hospital and once again we waited anxiously. This time I was in luck, it was a match. I was off to theatre. I remember the transplant
coordinator laughing and coming over to me with a second hospital cap and saying this one is for your beard.”
The operation was a nine-hour, tense wait for Brendan’s family. Finally, out of theatre, he was to spend three days in an induced coma for recovery. He describes how he felt on waking up.
“I was still intubated so I couldn’t speak, there was no pain. Looking around I could see I had four drains and an external pacemaker – the wait was finally over; I had my new heart. I was the happiest man alive that day.”
Brendan tells how he struggled with the fact he had to wait for another’s life to end for him to receive a healthy heart. A doctor comforted him. “You’re allowed be selfish when waiting on another’s demise so that you can live”.
His donor is never far from his mind and even more so on his wedding day. “I will always be grateful. As I was enjoying the celebrations at our wedding, I felt I owed that man some recognition. If he hadn’t made the decision to be a donor I might not be here today. So, I did a toast to my donor, a salute to the man who saved me, and our guests rose to their feet for a standing ovation. He was a hero, it felt like the right thing to do.”
Brendan’s life is unrecognisable to what it once was, now a happily married man with a baby on the way. He is working in retail and the couple, who initially met in Athlone IT stayed in touch. And when he recovered, they began dating. Their wedding was postponed due to Covid.
Brendan is no stranger to waiting and took it in his stride. “We weren’t expecting to have a global pandemic derail the plans. We just set another date and it all worked out in the end,” Brendan laughs.