Limerick priest recovering from triple heart bypass urges people to take cardiology tests
A WELL-KNOWN Limerick priest who is recovering from triple heart bypass surgery has urged people to take annual cardiology tests.
Fr Martin McGowan, who grew up in Monaleen and for the last 26 years has ministered in Zambia, flew home to Limerick in September to care for his 87-year-old mother Joan, who had suffered a stroke.
He was only meant to stay on Shannonside for six weeks to help her through.
But he has spent Christmas in his home parish - where he still says Mass occasionally - for the first time in 11 years.
It came after doctors made a discovery which, if left untreated, could have cost the 58-year-old his life had he flown back to Zambia.
Days before he was due to leave Ireland to return to Africa - where he supports some of the world’s poorest people - he went for a swim at the Castletroy Park Hotel.
“I could normally swim 10 lengths, but this time I only managed to do one length of the pool. As I turned, I got a tightness of the chest and nausea,” Fr McGowan recalls.
He immediately contacted his local GP who felt the issue was so serious, he should head straight for the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick.
When he was walking from the hospital car park into the building, Fr McGowan felt his heart tightening up again.
Upon arrival, he was rushed straight through to see a doctor. He was later diagnosed with stable angina.
He was then placed under observation, before doctors discovered a blockage in the arteries leading to his heart.
“I was told it was more serious then they first imagined, and I’d have to get an operation done in Cork,” he said.
“I was obviously worried it was something I’d have to pray over and get myself ready and prepare myself for.
“The surgeon said I was very lucky. The man above must be looking after me. He told me I was down to a trickle of blood into my heart. I was more than 95% blocked," he told the Limerick Leader.
Fr McGowan had planned to travel back to Zambia on November 7 - indeed, he had already booked a coach to Dublin from the Hurlers Pub in Castletroy.
It proved to be lucky he didn’t depart as planned.
“I was told I would have had a heart attack if I had got on that plane or maybe a week after.”
And in Zambia, one of the world’s most impoverished nations, there would not be the equipment to carry out a triple bypass there.
“If this happened in Zambia, I don’t know how I would have survived. I was very lucky,” Fr McGowan said.
“I feel blessed. I was in the right place at the right time. I know the HSE gets bad press, but they were excellent to me, the care I was given was unbelievable. They saved my life,” he added.
The priest has enjoyed Christmas in Monaleen with his mum, who recovered from her stroke, and extended family.
Fr McGowan says he hopes to go back to Zambia in the coming months, where he still has ambitions to build a new preschool for one of the communities he serves.
But for now, he's taking it easy.
He’s urged people to get checked out at the smallest sign of problems.
“If anything shows up, if you're doing an exercise and you feel a tightening of the chest, or any kind of nausea, don’t wait too long. Go to your GP. It’s always good to have a check-up each year with a cardiologist just to make sure there is no blockage,” he concluded.
Thankfully, for Fr McGowan, his triple bypass operation was a success.
Fortunately, the priest’s triple bypass operation was a success.