Waiting for a heart, he goes to the hospital

Photo Catherine Montambeault
Gérard Champagne has united its destiny to Michelle Cormier yesterday at the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he is waiting for a heart transplant.

Catherine Montambeault

Sunday, 22 October, 2017 00:05

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Sunday, 22 October, 2017 00:05

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Waiting for a heart transplant that could save her life, Gérard Champagne had stars in their eyes yesterday at the time of placing the ring on the finger of the woman he loves in the atrium of the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Dressed in a simple robe, blue, navy blue, man, 58-year-old wanted to realize his dream of getting married during his state allows it still.

Because there is only a month and a half, her life has completely switched.

“I’ve always wanted to marry Michelle, but she was not sure I wanted to marry, so I didn’t want to force it,” says Mr. Champagne, a voice out of breath, but playful.

“Marriage to me has always made nervous,” says his wife, Michelle Cormier, in her dress of white lace. But when Gerry fell ill, I wanted to be married as quickly as possible. “

At the beginning of the month of September, Gerard Champagne was in perfect health : he was training five times per week, was paying attention to his diet, and had never touched a cigarette.

But while he was at the airport to fly to Cuba, the fifty-year-old suddenly felt faint.

“I had the impression that my throat closes up, I did not understand what was happening “, he recalls.

Once the ambulance arrived, Mr. Champagne was feeling better. Believing in a panic attack, it has decided to cancel his trip and return home to rest.

Arteries that are too small

A week later, the breathing problems have started to worry more seriously. It is, therefore, made to her doctor, who advised him to go immediately to the hospital.

It is at this time that he learned that the arteries of his heart were almost completely blocked.

Tragically, it was also announced that her arteries were too small for it to receive bypass surgery. Stents, these small springs that are often placed in the arteries so they do not clog up, were no longer an option.

The only remaining solution : a heart transplant. For the past five weeks, the man waiting with hope that a body is released to him.

It has also been connected to a ventricular assist device (VAD), a mechanical pump that helps increase the volume of blood circulating in his body.

Sick in love but

Gérard Champagne and Michelle Cormier crossed paths for the first time in a gym 15 years ago. Since then, they have never left us. They recently bought a house together in Pincourt, in Montérégie.

When asked how he keeps the moral, Gérard Champagne looks at his companion.

“I really thought that I was going to die, then I’m happy to still be here today,” he said. And as long as Michelle is there with me, it’s going well. “