A man is preparing to cycle 130 miles from the tip of Wales to his hometown in Carmarthenshire just months after he couldn’t cycle down his own road because an undiagnosed condition meant he actually needed heart surgery. Rhys James, a guitar teacher from Carmarthen, was out riding his bike last summer when he suddenly felt that he couldn’t carry on.
He had to stop on his journey as his heart was beating too fast. He was having serious palpitations and in the weeks that followed he continued to struggle as his heartbeat was speeding up without reason several times a day.
Rhys had never suffered from any heart problems in the past and decided he had to be seen by a doctor promptly to get to the bottom of what was happening to him. “I’m quite fit and I haven’t had problems with my heart before so I had to see a specialist fairly quickly and then receive drugs to calm the heart,” said Rhys. “I was given the choice whether to continue on strong pills for the rest of my life or have surgery.”
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Earlier this year Rhys underwent surgery at Morriston Hospital in Swansea having initially been treated at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen. “The care was excellent,” he said. “Everyone who worked in both cardiology departments were professional and knowledgeable and saying thank you to them feels somehow inadequate.”
With that in mind Rhys will travel from his home to Caernarfon in Gwynedd before coming back on his bike on Saturday, June 24. The journey will see him cycle south through Gwynedd, into Powys, and down through Ceredigion before arriving into Carmarthenshire for the last stretch. His aim is to raise £1,000 for the cardiology department at Glangwili Hospital to thank them for the care he received which has allowed him to continue with his life after a frightening time.
“I got a diagnosis, strong tablets, an offer for surgery, and accepted the surgery all within half a year and just five months later I’ll be cycling 130 miles – it’s amazing,” said Rhys. “The least I can do now is collect money for the cardiology department who did so much for me and who work tirelessly for many other people.
"If you had asked me to cycle down the road at the beginning of this year I wouldn’t have been able to do it. Thanks to the special care I received from the staff at Glangwili and Morriston, I’m about to start this journey. It’s a miracle to be honest.”
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