Unsung Heroes: Harvey stalwart Rob Newby given the ‘gift of life’ with heart transplant

A South West heart transplant recipient with a passion for sport is set to compete on the world stage thanks to a “miracle” second chance at life.

And he is hoping it will encourage others to have the important conversation about organ donation with their families.

Harvey community and sporting stalwart Robert Newby is one of several talented WA athletes set to represent Australia in the upcoming World Transplant Games, competing in badminton and lawn bowls.

The humble man — a former Harvey Lions Club president, hardware store owner and selfless volunteer — said he practically grew up with a racquet in his hand, first turning to the sport as a young boy when Harvey’s Westbrook Hall was “the place to be” on a weekend.

“As a junior, we were all playing as part of the local PCYC,” he said.

“I started junior badminton and we went along on a Saturday morning and the boys that were out there getting wet playing football and hockey used to come in, all covered in mud, and we’d be nice and dry.

“That’s where we started but it grew from there, then as we got a bit stronger, we were invited to play seniors then start competing.”

Over the years, he has had a huge impact on sport in the region, with the Harvey Recreation and Cultural Centre’s main stadium named after him in 2002, after he chaired the fundraising committee which raised more than $600,000 for it’s construction in the early 1990s.

An incredibly active young man, Rob also dabbled in football, basketball, tennis and squash, telling the South Western Times “you name it, I played it”.

Badminton swiftly became a passion, him and his wife travelling into Bunbury three times a week to compete at Collie Bridge Hall before later being involved in the establishment of the Bunbury and Districts Badminton Association, at the South West Sports Centre.

However, his world soon changed.

He discovered he had a heart murmur at just 30, after going to the doctor’s for what he thought was the flu.

“I said, was does that mean? I’m going to die at 30?” he shared.

“They told me I had a leaking valve, which I may have been born with and that it shouldn’t affect your life, you might go through the rest of your life and never have any problems.”

However, yearly check-ups with a cardiologist eventually returned more pressing results, with the father and grandfather undergoing open-heart surgery at 46 after playing a “very vigorous” game of squash.

“I got some chest pains and thought I’d probably had a heart attack,” he said.

“I was admitted to the ED here in Harvey and ended up being told I needed surgery.”

It was not the last time he would have surgery, going under the knife again 12 years later, as well as multiple surgeries to implant pacemakers, in case — as Rob described it — his heart “ran amok.”

“I had a couple of episodes where I’d wake up in the middle of the night, having a bad dream, and it was the defib kicking in,” he said.

“Because the heart had been overworked over a long period it had become weak, and got into this crazy rhythm and sometimes it stopped.”

In 2018, he suffered a major cardiac arrest in his home, in which the defibrillators tried and failed seven times to restart his heart.

Fortunately, his wife Suzanne and neighbours had been home at the time, able to perform CPR until medical professionals arrived to have him flown to a hospital in Perth.

Being told by professionals his heart was “shot,” Rob quickly went on the transplant list, spending two-weeks in hospital being tested to see if he was a viable candidate to receive a new heart.

“They have to test you to make sure you’re worth saving,” he said.

“There’s no point giving you a new heart, if your liver’s shot or your kidneys are bad ... you don’t want to waste a good organ on someone whose not going to make it.”

He chuckled upon his reflection, recalling watching the 2018 West Coast Eagles premiership-winning grand final just days before his transplant, describing it as a “heart-stopping” watch.

And finally, after weeks of testing, he was given the green light to join the transplant list — doctors miraculously telling him “well that’s good because we have a heart”.

The news was astonishing to Rob and his wife, with many people requiring transplant waiting weeks if not years to find a matching organ.

But the fairytale ending doesn’t stop there, Rob revealing the following day was to be his birthday.

“I was reborn on my birthday,” he said with sincerity.

“I had a second chance of life given to me.”

And it’s a miracle he is beyond grateful for.

“It’s given me a life ... I assumed that everybody at my age felt like I felt like I did, just getting old ... but now that I’ve got a younger, slightly younger, stronger head, I can do physical things that I found a little bit of a chore before,” he said.

“The fact that I’m upright and vertical is the big bonus ... now I’m back driving, running around with the lawn mower, walking for an hour everyday, spending time with my kids and grandkids, playing bowls three times a week.”

Competing for the country in lawn bowls and badminton for the first time since his 30s, he said the upcoming games were about so much more than sport.

“The whole concept of the game is really to show the world that you’ve come through,” he said.

“Every participant in one form or another has had their own journey and lots of same or similar stories.

“It’s also about people being aware of the fact that organ donors are required, it sounds scary and it is scary to make that choice, but awareness and discussion is so important.

“The focus is not on us — the focus is on the message.”

Register as an organ donor at donatelife.gov.au.