Public appeals for heart transplant

Press, 14 October 1986, Page 4

Public appeals for heart transplant

PA Wellington A public appeal opened yesterday to help a Wellington man, Mr Des Tucker, have a heart transplant in Australia.

The Government last week offered Mr Tucker $40,000 towards the cost. Mr Tucker, who had hoped for a local transplant to avoid the stress and publicity of fund-rais-ing, was now “in fairly urgent need of treatment,” said his cardiologist, Dr Richard Thompson.

“Over the ... last six months he has shown significant deterioration. There is no doubt he needs the proper treatment quickly,” he said. Dr Thompson is awaiting information from Sydney's St Vincent’s Hospital on Mr Tucker’s priority before his departure date is set.

“They have told me they expect him to front up at the hospital with a

$60,000 cheque,” he said. Another $40,000 is needed to cover costs, says a close Tawa friend, Mr Robin Bloor. He and Mr Keith Swinerd, who got to know Mr Tucker through the Porirua Club, worked to set up the appeal last week-end. So far they have an address for accepting donations, and plans for further activities.

Meanwhile, Dr Thompson’s trust fund for local heart transplants was officially signed and sealed.

The New Zealand Heart Transplant Trust will cover the patient’s cost from admission to hospital for a heart transplant, to their time of discharge; the cost of procuring a donor heart if it has to come from a distance; the cost of accommodation for the spouse or a close relative of the patient if they came from beyond the Wellington region; and the fund will be usable in

Dunedin or Auckland cardiothoracic units as well as in Wellington. Dr Thompson said the trust had already received a sum “in six figures.”

The trust fund was accepting donations from the public as well as approaching businesses and finance houses, he said.

The trust aimed to raise $1 or $2 million. Donations to the appeal for Mr Tucker can be sent to P.O. Box 51100, Tawa, Wellington, and for the Heart Transplant Trust to P.O. Box 7077, Wellington South, or to Dr Thompson, at Wellington Hospital.