A Shillingstone couple have thanked people who rallied round to raise money for a lifesaving op.

Sue Evans and Mike King have been trying to raise £60,000 for an op to remove deadly blood clots from Mike’s lungs. Papworth Hospital in Cambridge is just one of four in the world to perform the eight-hour surgery to remove the clots from the pulmonary artery, without which Mike’s heart would have failed.

An Auction of Promises raised £2,076 to add to the £5,000 the couple had already raised and children with autism at Springfield School in Salisbury walked the distance to Barbados to raise more.
Mike had the operation a couple of months ago. However, he suffered a setback afterwards, resulting in a 23-day stay in critical care.

Sue said: “The operation went very well, but the following day he had a massive bleed from his lung resulting in a further trip to theatre, nine days on ECMO (Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) which is like a heart and lung bypass machine, and over a month’s stay in hospital.”

“It was a scary time but he’s home now and is recovering well.
I just wanted to say a huge thank you to readers of the New Blackmore Vale for their kindness and support. Following the article on Mike’s heart and lung operation, we had an incredible response to our Auction of promises. Strangers offered their time, skills or goods including a full day of odd jobs, the local Avon lady offered a basket of products and others bid on promises or kindly donated.”

“A local artist, Julie Brunn, offered a pet portrait and four animal prints, which went down extremely well and Sundown Studio offered a new logo design for a business. I can’t thank the community enough for coming together to help us when we needed it most.”

Despite the setbacks afterwards, Mike’s operation was very successful in clearing the scar tissue from his pulmonary artery enabling more oxygen to reach his lungs.

Sue said: “After critical care Mike then spent a further eight days on the ward, working hard with physiotherapists to learn to walk again, eating real food and generally begin his recovery.”

“He is home now
and things have
improved
dramatically. The
most striking
difference is that
Mike is able to
walk without
getting breathless.
This means we
can go for short walks – he walks 1.5 miles almost every day now compared to four or five steps and then having to rest. He still cannot lift anything heavy and can’t vacuum yet unfortunately due to the breast bone having to bond together.”

Mike is due to head back to Barbados in October and back to work showing tourists around the island in his taxi.

Sue said: “We can’t quite believe the lengths people have gone to help us. We’re extremely grateful to every single one of them.”

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