James Chaney was a sergeant in the American Forces in Berlin. At the time, he was a healthy, young man, with many plans and ideas for the future. In 1987, at the age of only 37 years, he suffered from an infarct of the front side of his heart without warning. The infarct led to the development of an aneurysma at the right coronary artery. Since then, he has been 70% disabled.

"I felt that my life was taken from me. It was a shock. Paralysed and living in a foreign country, what should you do? I could not continue to do my job. I realised that there was no other way but to accept the situation and make the best out of it." 

James Chaney started to write poems and became an artist performing with jazz and classical musicians in Berlin:

"The infarct encouraged me to find a new way of expressing myself. I loved to perform. It did not matter at all if I was ill. It was a very exciting time!"

The second change in James Chaney's life was in 1996.

While watching TV at home, he suddenly felt sick. He went to the bathroom - after that, he cannot remember anything. His wife found him lying on the floor unconscious. Thanks to his neighbour and the paramedics, James Chaney's life was saved, but he was in coma for one week.

"When I woke up and saw my father praying next to my bed, I became afraid. Something bad must have happened, but I did not know what. I was so lucky to be still alive." 

The doctors advised James Chaney to have a heart defibrillator implant, a small computer-operated device, which adjusts heart beats through electronic waves. Since then, the device has been changed only twice.

"The defibrillator is my friend, and my life insurance. But the technology is not sufficient. You have to believe in yourself and in what you do."

Source: Aktion Meditech