By Marjory Inglis, health reporter

AN ARBROATH man is the first patient in Tayside to be fitted locally with a life-saving device that “shocks” his faulty heart into beating normally.

Alastair Graham was fitted with the cardiac defibrillator implant at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, and from now on all Tayside patients requiring this device will get their implant in the city.

Before Mr Graham’s landmark procedure, all patients requiring such an implant had to travel to Edinburgh or Aberdeen—an additional trauma for patients and their families already coping with a life-threatening heart condition.

Now approaching his 66th birthday, Mr Graham admits life as he knew it ended as he turned 40.

At that time, he and his wife Elizabeth and their three young children lived in Dundee while he worked at Michelin.

But in 1982 he was invalided out of work, having difficulty even pushing a mop at the tyre factory due to his heart condition.

Mr Graham suffers from hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy—a condition that has led to the death of apparently fit, young sportsmen and women who had no warning of an irregular heartbeat.

Sudden heart failure claimed the life of former Motherwell FC captain Phil O’Donnell in December last year.

“I have a thickening of the muscles of the heart, which causes a blockage —not everybody knows about it before it’s too late,” said Mr Graham.

Fortunately for Mr Graham, his condition was identified before such catastrophic consequences, but to stay alive he can’t get into a heated argument with his wife or wrestle on the floor with his grandchildren.

His condition was diagnosed almost 30 years ago.

Mr Graham said, “I had a pain in the chest and my legs gave way when I was mopping the floor working in the Michelin.”

He went to his GP, who had a special interest in cardiology, and was directly referred to Ninewells where he has been a regular patient ever since.

Last month he celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary in Ninewells, admitted by ambulance after feeling “a bit light headed.”

His faulty heart was monitored 24 hours a day for three weeks in the hospital.

“They found my heart was not working the way it should work and they were concerned,” he said.

Having had a pacemaker for many years, Mr Graham’s medical team suggested the way forward was to have a cardiac defibrillator implant fitted in his chest.

They pointed out he would be the first person to undergo the procedure at Ninewells—the historic day was April 10.

The idea is that it is with you 24 hours a day.

If your heart is not working the way it should do, the defibrillator causes an electric shock so the heart starts to work again.

Mr Graham said he was a very fortunate man to be alive, adding that it was down to the “top service” he has received at Ninewells.

His procedure was performed by cardiologists Dr Graeme McNeill and Dr Anna Maria Choy.

Since arriving in Dundee, Dr Choy has been training local specialists to perform the procedure.

She said the implant fits snugly in to the palm of the hand and is operated by batteries that last between six and eight years.

Offering the procedure locally means patients will be seen quicker and not have to wait for a slot in Aberdeen or Edinburgh, as well as being more convenient for the patients’ families.