Wayne Brody

In November 2017, Wayne Broady, then 52, had “a massive heart attack while swimming and exercising” at his local pool in New South Wales. 

After the session, he went to his car, feeling as if he were experiencing severe indigestion. It was much worse than that. 

“I got carted off in an ambulance and was lucky just to make it to hospital,” he said. 

Living a healthy lifestyle and not having had warning signs, it was a bolt from the blue. Wayne would initially be in hospital for about two-and-a-half months and “in and out of ICU”. 

Fitted with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) – a surgically implanted pump that helps that chamber of the heart pump blood to the rest of the body – he would finally go home in early 2018, where he waited for a donated heart to arrive. 

Fortunately, it arrived quickly. Wayne doesn’t know from whom or where the heart came but says he and his family will remain eternally grateful it was donated. 

“Initially you think, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ But nowadays I’m just thankful for the opportunity that’s been offered to me – it’s a gift of life. It saved me,” he said. 

In April 2023 Wayne was in the pool, competing for Team Australia at the World Transplant Games in Perth.   

“The World Transplant Games raises public awareness of the importance and benefits of organ donation. For me it was a way to say thank you to those who made my transplant possible,” he said. 

“I trained for five or six months and managed to record some personal bests. I dramatically improved from where I began.” 

While he picked up a bronze and silver medal, Wayne said his real aim was just to be there. Another competitor, another beating heart.