3 - Sunday, August 17, 1986 - North Shore News rt EIGHT MONTHS AFTER SURGERY, WEST VANCOUVER’S DANIEL IZZARD — CANADA’S OLDEST HEART TRANSPLANT PATIENT — TALKS ABOUT LIFE AFTER THE OPERATION A MIRACLE. That's how Denese Izzard) describes the medical triumph that saved her husband's life. = I seems the choice of words is highly appropriate. Eight: months from the tense days last December when Daniel iezard was hovering precariously near death in need of a heart transplant, the West Van- couver impress! nist artist casually lifts heavy bags of cement to be used in construction of a garage he is partially adding onto his house. Canada's oldest heart transplant patient is doing such odd jobs only as a break from) his painting, which is his work and his passion. Within days of his return. to West) Vancouver in) April from London, Ontario, where the transplant was performed at Uni- versity, Hospital Jan. 32. Izzard curled up in his studio and picked up right where he left off. The internationally renowned artist painted Through The Lions Gate, one of six in a series of limited edition prints sold on the Expo site. Now he is working on an exhibition on Japan, and another set of paintings to be displayed in the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Ouawa. GIFT OF LIFE Wzard maintains a strict exercise program und is doing his best to fill up the family’s social calendar Jeft barren during his illness, In short, Daniel Izzard is taking full advantage of the gift of life he received at the age of 62 from the heart of a 16-year-old Philadelphia girl who died of a drug overdose. “Pm the only painter in all of history who is having his own Renaissance,’ he says with a wry smile, While Izzard, a father of four, says his oil paintings have attained anew clarity since his return to art following a three-month = con- valescence, he says the major changes in his life have been phito- sophical and spiritual. ‘‘There’s oo lifestyle change. I’m as good as new,"* “You know, in the movies they always Say six months to a year. When the doctor said one month, my mouth was wide open.”’ In a wide-ranging two-hour in- terview with the North Shore News, the Izzards discussed the draining emotional battle they fought as Daniel's heart condition worsened. It was clear throughout the in- terview at the tzzard’s home, which overlooks Whytecliff Marina, that the couple has exam- ined in great depth all the cir- cumstances that led to the heart transplant and the changes to their lives. SELF-ANALYSIS “You go through a lot of self- analysis when something like this happens,” says Izzard. By CHRIS WONG Contrihutng Writer The wort oof it) began fast November when fie cheeked into Lions Gate Hospital with an undetermined health problem, For a number of years Izzard experienced periodic bouts of ill health which he attributed to the inhaling of paint fumes. It was on- ly in December when a Vanecoucer cardiolovist, Dr. Michael Moscovich, detected the severity of his problem. Moscovich, director of the Car- diac Catheterization Laboratory at Vancouver General Hospital, discovered izzard was suffering from terminal cardiomyopathy, a degenerative disease which destroys the heart muscle. His prognosis was bleak. “You know, in the movies they always say six months to a year," says Denese. “When the doctor said one month, my mouth was wide open.” The only hope for ivzard was a heart transplant. Fortunately for the artist, a rule keeping the age limit of transplant: patients at 35 had been changed not long before his operation. FAITH REAFFIRMED . Denese, who was by T7Zard's side throughout his stay in Lon- don, says der spirits picked up when she met another man — not much younger than her husband — who had already had a heart transplant. “There he was standing in’ the room,” the 47-year-old recalls. ‘*t mean he wasn’t a vhost. a heart was actully taken out of a body to enable him to live. Seeine bin past reaffirmed my faith that this was gaing To work”” I7zard himself was strengthened by meeting other heart transplant patients as part of the preparation process atthe University Hospital. As such, lezard says he wis never overly pessimistic about his chanees of surviving the heart condition. But after the operation his at- titude changed almost is dramatically as his health, “bor a long time before the operation, | couldn't sleep without sitting up. The first thing t remember when [ woke up was thinking, ‘My God, I'm !ving down and [can breathe," “The future started looking brighter, } was much more philo- sophical. Things didn't bother me NEWS photo Mike Wakefloid DE? AND Daniel {zzard are all smiles eight months after Daniel returned from London, Ontario, where he became Canada's oldest heart transplant recipient. The 62-year-old West Vancouver impressionist artist says the transplant has changed his outtook on life. as much anymore. ft really did af- fect my athitude.”” laeard says priar ta the opera- ton he was religious ina quiet, in- troverted way. Uo went through at kind of religious experience | ruess, Denese is slightly more animated in describing the spiritual signiftcanee of the transplant given to her husband of 20-vears. “For u long time before the opera- tion, I couldn’t Sleep without sitting up. The first thing I remember when I woke up was think- ing, ‘My God, I’m lying down and I can breathe.’” ‘In one sentence, being a witness to a miracle kept me go- ing,’’ Denese says. ‘lt was just like Alying, like being in a state of shock when you den't fee anything, but you feel so cuphoric. “Et feel we were so blessed. If ever T needed an affirmation chat God exists, this was it." HEAVENLY POWERS They also had some help calling on heavenly powers to intervene on Izczard's behalf from the nuns at Mount St. Joseph’s convent where they stayed before the surgery. “Every day ISO nuns were praying for me,” he said. ‘fl couldn’: lose." With or without support from up above, Izzard had to start an exercise program even during his stay at the hospital for the month following his operation, He stayed another eight weeks in London as an outpatient, making daily visits to the hospital for therapy and tests. Ivzard says he didn’t mind the massive media attention he at- tracted during that period because it created awareness about the need for organ donors. He returned to his West Van- couver home April 17 with a clean bill of health. Moscovich says his patient came out of the operation in fine form: ‘*He’s doing beautifully. His con- dition at the present time is ex- cellent. He's had no complica- tions.” Izzard, one of at least five heart transplant patients from the North Shore, intends to stay fit and keep producing the works of art which have been his livelihood for years. Izzard says he feels his best work is yet to come. immortal. We terminus “T almost feel don’t look to a anymore,"’ he says. “Pm glad he says ‘we’,’' Denese adds. “T feel everything he does now, it’s almost in honor of (his heart donor),’* she says. ‘*His life is an overture to her. We'll always remember he has his life because of her.”