Bryan's an action junkie at heart

By ALANAH MAY ERIKSEN
For someone who has died four times, Bryan Eckersley has a lot of life in him.

Mr Eckersley has been competing in the Masters' Games for years so he wasn't going to let a small thing like a heart transplant stop him.

The 62-year-old Rotorua man had a heart transplant last year but is competing this week in the 2007 Masters' Games in speed skating and downhill mountainbiking.

He has won a gold medal in the over-60 age group for mountainbiking and dedicated the medal to his donor's family.

Mr Eckersley had a heart attack in 2004 while at a friend's house in Auckland.

He died four times in the ambulance on the way to hospital and had to be revived with shock treatment. He had a triple bi-pass but his condition deteriorated and doctors told him about 18 months ago he would die within three months if he did not have a heart replacement.

Three weeks later a heart became available. His wife Carolyn rushed him to Auckland's Greenlane Hospital and within hours he was on the operating table.

"I remember looking at the hospital walls and thinking that they might be the last thing I see," he said.

"There were so many things I would've liked to have said to family but there was just no time."

The operation was a success and with a good diet and only drinking beer on "special occasions", Mr Eckersley has defeated the odds.

"I talk to my friends now and they said early last year they had thought to themselves 'Bryan won't live to see Christmas'."

He is even back to working up to 40 hours a week installing bathrooms.

"I used to try and fit as much in as I could but money can't buy your health, it doesn't even really buy happiness either, you should do it because you enjoy it."

Mr Eckersley brought his old heart home and buried it in his garden, as part of his healing process.

He has always been sporty and held national records for speed skating, was a New Zealand roller hockey and provincial field hockey representative.

The Masters' Games are for people aged 30 and over and are held annually alternately between Dunedin and Wanganui.

Mr Eckersley has competed in the Wanganui event since it began in 1990.

He has won numerous gold, silver and bronze medals, mostly for speed skating.

"My cardiologist thinks I'm mad, she says 'why don't you do something normal'.

"But I like doing things with action."

The next thing on the agenda is to attend the World Transplant Games in Bangkok in September.

* This week is Heart Week, where New Zealanders are encouraged to donate to The National Heart Foundation and wear the colour red to support people with heart problems.