Transplant seeker’s bid for truce

Press, 27 June 1989, Page 4

Transplant seeker’s bid for truce

PA Wellington A Wellington man fighting for a heart-lung transplant moved yesterday to patch up differences with a trust he claimed kept him in the dark over fund-raising for his surgery. Mr Ron Brown, aged 37. born with a hole in his heart, said earlier he had lost faith in the five-mem-ber Stokes Valley Medical Trust and its chairman, Mr Angus Finlayson. “My condition is terminal. I could be dead tomorrow, I could feel good tomorrow, it all depends ... I should have had my operation by now,” he said. Mr Brown and Mr Finlayson became involved in a slanging match last week-end through the news media. Mr Finlayson said Mr Brown was “a dreadful person to deal with” — a comment Mr Brown later described as a direct insult. But after telephoning Mr Finlayson yesterday, Mr Brown said they had reached an understanding. The telephone call was their first conversation since March 8, Mr Brown said.

However, in spite of the understanding, Mr Brown said he still intended to set up another committee to raise money for his transplant. Mr Finlayson yesterday denied the trust had kept Mr Brown in the dark. He said there was no need to contact Mr Brown until the trust’s main project, a house finished last Christmas, was sold. The Stokes Valley house had now been sold for $303,000 and the trust would probably make about $30,000 available for Mr Brown after bills were paid this week, Mr Finlayson said. “We will hand over this money to Ron and be happy to continue fundraising for him alongside any new committee he wants to set up,” he said. Mr Finlayson said he and a builder, Mr Geoff Carr, lent $BO,OOO to the project interest free — hardly an indication of a lack of commitment. The trust was set up last year with the aim of sending Mr Brown to England’s Harefield Hospital for the heart-lung surgery. He now intends having surgery at St Vincent Hospital, Sydney.