Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010

Transplant swimmer shows heart

On sunny summer days, community swimming pools ring with the sounds of kids shouting for parents and grandparents to watch them swim. But it's not often that it's the grandmother shouting for the kids to watch her.

Karen King, of Raleigh, can't wait until her seven grandchildren can see her swim for the first time in their lives.

King's fear started 30 years ago when someone playfully pushed her into the deep end of a pool, and a panic set in that she was never able to shake - until last fall, at the age of 56, when she swam her first lap across a pool at the Rex Wellness Center in North Raleigh's Wakefield development.

"I didn't think I would ever be able to do that, but now I know that I can," she said.

King's secret to success is Brian Barndt, a swim whisperer of sorts.

"Brian's so knowledgeable about swimming," she said. "He can look at each individual and know how to help. Understanding oozes from this guy, and you feel safe."

Barndt, 42, who lives in Wake Forest, understands the icy grip of a fear so strong, it can nearly choke the life out of a person. He suffered from heart disease for nearly two decades until he received a heart transplant in July 2005.

"My wife lived in fear of being left a widow with two young children," he said. "And I was terribly afraid of the transplant, the only thing that could save my life."

As a student swimmer and water polo player at the UNC- Wilmington in 1990, Barndt contracted a virus that led to cardiomyopathy, a disease that damages the heart's muscle and inhibits its ability to pump blood.

A healthy young athlete, Barndt was able to control his disease with medication for awhile, but he realized a heart transplant was likely in his future. He put it off as long as he could, graduating from college and heading off to the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest. He became a minister at the former Six Forks Baptist Church on Baileywick Road in Raleigh.

"My body did well for 10 years after I contracted heart disease, but in 2000, I started declining," he said.

First, he had a defibrillator put in. A defibrillator is a device placed under the skin of the chest to monitor the electrical activity of the heart. If there is a life-threatening change in heart rhythm, the implant shocks the heart into a normal rhythm. One day, while taking a walk, Barndt's defibrillator had to shock his heart 16 times in a row.

Surgery to repair a heart valve followed. The once-athletic water polo player could not swim even one length of a pool.

"I was dying," he said.

He fought his fear of the transplant surgery and got in line for a new heart.

Six weeks after surgery, Barndt went back into the pool and swam 250 yards. Eventually, he started training. He competed in the National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games in Louisville, Ky. in 2006, winning four gold medals in his age group.

"It was the thrill of a lifetime," he said.

Last August, Barndt won three silver medals and one bronze medal at the 2009 World Transplant Games in Brisbane, Australia.

He's giving back through his job as a swim coach at Rex Wellness Center, where he teaches a beginners' swim class called "Get Your Feet Wet" and a total-immersion swim class for intermediate swimmers who want to improve their technique.

Jill Zaremba, 30, of Raleigh took Barndt's total-immersion class.

"I had a phobia of putting my head under water, so I always swam with my head up," she said. "After taking Brian's class, it's so much easier now. I usually swim 45 minutes to an hour, two or three times a week."

For King, learning to swim has opened up a new world of fun, and she has determined that swimming might just be her thing.

"I recently took a vacation to St. Lucia and went out on a jet ski and sailed a little sail boat," she said. "I even rode in a little banana boat towed behind a speed boat. I never could have done that before I took Brian's class.

"I know if I can get in the water and swim across the pool, I can have the confidence to do other things, too, even at the age of 56."