Video: Terry Killeavy tells his story to Notts TV’s Stephanie Bennett
A stethoscope won by a Notts man at a charity darts event helped to save his life and led doctors to discover a 50p-size hole in his heart.
Terry Killeavy, 55, of Gotham, won the first round at the Admiral Rodney pub in Wollaton 20 years ago, which led to him claiming a stethoscope.
In January 1997, competitors each brought a prize to the pub including wheels, an electric fireplace, and other random household items.
The winner of the first round got first choice of the prizes and Terry chose the stethoscope because it was the smallest item to carry home.
He said: “We passed it around to everybody in the pub, everybody had a go, and I had a go as well.
“I just thought, there’s something not quite right here, this doesn’t sound like a normal heart beat.”
He contacted his GP for a check-up and it took three to four attempts before they found the extent of the hole in the upper chambers of his heart.
Seven days later, Terry had surgery to close the hole.
He said: “I could have picked any prize, and could have ran more half marathons still with the same condition and that’s where the problem could have been.
“I cloaked any symptoms in my fitness prior to it but when a surgeon tells you, you’ve got away with it, you have no time now and we can’t take any more risks.”
Terry still goes for regular checks at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester and added: “They went out of their way to care for me and to me they are the best hospital in Britain.”
Terry continues to compete in pub darts competitions and has managed to win three trophies in the past couple of months at the Star and Sun Inns in Gotham.
