'Life can change overnight': Pneumonia put Paul on the heart transplant list

The 48-year-old Corrimal Plus Fitness owner can be seen daily lifting weights, racing up stairs and egging on other gym users.

But three years ago, just before he got a new heart, things were very different.

"At one stage I was told 'you've probably only got six months to live if you don't get this transplant," he said.

"Some days I couldn't even leave the house, it was like you were walking in water, and then I couldn't sleep at night because of the fluid back-up in my lungs.

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"My eyes would start flashing because there was no circulation to my eyes, it got pretty bad in the end."

Mr Panagiotidis got pneumonia in 2014 and the virus damaged his heart and left him with cardiomyopathy, which made it harder for his heart to pump blood to the rest of his body.

With his heart function at around 25-35 per cent initially, he says he was able to maintain most of his usual activities, but, around five years after his diagnosis his heart function slowly started to decline.

Unable to work for months, and some days unable to leave the house, Paul was placed on the transplant list.

Three months later, the call came that a heart donor had been found.

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"When you get put on the list, you got to be available to be there within two hours," he said.

"That was pretty hard - my daughters were only 12 and 15 at the time, and the call came at 2am to say I needed to get to the hospital. "

He said going into hospital in the middle of the pandemic, was tough on him and his family, but that they - and his doctors - were stunned by his recovery.

"The crazy thing is, the transplant itself was the easiest thing, like I just woke up and that was it. I was out of hospital in nine days," he said.

"Probably a week out of hospital, like, you know, I was running upstairs and all sorts of things."

"Now I'm 100% normal - the only sign is I take medication, three tablets in the morning and two at night and that's it."

He credits his fitness and job as a gym owner, as well as the fact that his donor heart was a strong match so he didn't have any rejection for his remarkable recovery.

"Most people at the gym didn't even know I had anything wrong with me, so when they saw my post on Instagram that I'd had a heart transplant, everyone was shocked," he said.

"Now, people can't believe it when they see my scar and I have to explain the whole thing."

He said the experience had taught him that life can change overnight, and had made him doubly dedicated to his fitness.

"I would definitely encourage people to stay fit and healthy, because you never know what's around the corner," he said.

"I think if you're in a good place with your fitness, you can pull through things a lot easier.

"I think it's important to lead a more healthy life and that's why at the gym I'm here every day trying to help people get healthy."

He has also become a fierce advocate for donor awareness, and would like it to be easier for people to become donors.

"I'm lucky because I got a good match, and without that match I've seen people who aren't lucky enough to get the right match and they're in and out of hospital," he said.

"It really should be an opt out system, not an opt in system."