Patients Testimonial

Photographer’s Narrow Escape From Death

Mariola Biela, chief photographer of The Citizen, never thought she would receive a blood transfusion. Mariola has always been supportive of blood donation and has supported SANBS many times in its cause to recruit blood donors.

As The Citizen newspaper’s chief photographer, Mariola Biela has taken photographs in dangerous situations, but no situation could be compared to a day she woke up in a pool of blood in her house.

Mariola Biela, 46, is a survivor. She survived traumas in her life - the death of her 16-year-old son Tommy in 2001 and her immigration from the communist rule in Poland to South Africa in the 1980s.

Mariola had on many occasions been assigned to cover riots in townships in the past.

“As a single mom I was concerned about my safety working in violent-ridden places and especially what would happen to my child should I get killed on duty. I did not know that my life would be threatened by a medical condition,” she says.

Mariola was born with Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) and started complaining of tiredness, short breath and heart pains at the age of 12years. There was a hole in her atrium which caused oxygenated blood to mix with de-oxygenated blood in her body. Doctors told her that she would need to be operated later in life to fix the condition.

Mariola continued to feel more and more tired until she went to an open heart surgeon in Sunninghill in 2004. The doctor confirmed that she had to have a heart operation to lessen her risk of having stroke and further complications.

At the beginning of 2006 she made it her new year’s resolution to go under the knife.

“A specialist told me about a new method to close an ASD with an amplatzer occluder - a medical device that works the same as an umbrella. It is put into the heart and then “opened” like an umbrella to close the hole.

The operation is a minor one and patients are discharged within 24 hours. The success rate of these operations is very good.

Mariola was sent for tests to determine if she would be eligible for the operation and she was given the green light. On 26 January 2006 she went for the operation.

The amplatzer occluder used to fix Mariola’s condition was the size of a R5 coin – which was bigger than average.

“The day after the operation I was checked and scanned. Everything seemed fine and I was discharged at 10am.

When I got home, I thought it would be wise to relax as I have actually undergone a huge operation, although it didn’t feel like it. I took a magazine to read in bed”.

The next moment she lost consciousness, sight and had a terrible back pain. She crawled on the floor trying to locate the telephone. Fortunately, it rang and she grabbed it and immediately called her landlord.

“I was extremely cold and was slipping in and out of consciousness. At one stage I woke up and found myself lying on the floor in a pool of blood. The soft tissue in my head split when I fell on the floor,” she said.

On her arrival at the hospital the doctor was frantically waiting for her and she was immediately rushed to surgery and underwent open heart surgery. It was established that her heart burst open. The amplatzer occluder was taken out and the holes were stitched.

Mariola was taken to the Critical Care Unit (CCU), but was rushed back to theatre shortly afterwards for a second operation. Mariola’s aorta somehow got cut. During the operation, she received eight blood transfusions and woke up two days later in CCU.

“Doctors came to my bedside and told me they could not believe I was still alive. I was one of five people in the world that reacted negatively toward the amplatzer occluder. One doctor even sang the song ‘Knocking on heaven’s door’ for me. I now realise that us humans are so fragile.”

Mariola is thankful for the wonderful care from her friends, John and Sally Jones, as well as the expertise of the medical fraternity.
She also has only kind words for blood donors and has always been supportive towards blood donation.

“I have always wanted to donate blood, but could never do so because of low blood pressure. I cannot imagine what would have happened if there wasn’t blood available for me during my operation. Blood donors, you have helped to save my life. Thank you”.

Since her close encounter with death, Mariola values every day. “I always saw myself as strong and thought nothing could happen to me. My life changed in a split second. I now live each day to the fullest and have learned that it is okay to ask others for help. It actually feels so good,” she says.

“If there’s one message I can give to people, it is to continue donating blood. I am a living testimony that blood saves lives”.