11:19am Friday 5th February 2010
By Amanda Williams
JUST weeks before Christmas, Oli Leach was told without a heart transplant, he had only six months to live.
The 29-year-old, from Iffley Road, Oxford, caught a virus which had attacked his heart causing a condition called cardiomyopathy, or heart muscle disease.
Just weeks after his diagnosis a match was found and Mr Leach is now making a good recovery.
He said: “Looking back, I realise I had been feeling unusually tired for some months and there had been a few times when I’d been short of breath for no apparent reason.
“I’m a plasterer so was pretty active, but in the final week before going to hospital the usual things I took in my stride became beyond me.”
Mr Leach is backing the Oxford Mail Donor Campaign to encourage more people to sign up.
He said: “I used to carry a donor card, but I never thought I would be in need of a donor myself, especially at my age.
“But it can help so many people. For me, my special thanks go to the donor family, without whom I would not be here.”
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