Simon's debt to sister he never met

A HEALTH worker who grew up in Coalpit Heath has written an inspirational book – dedicated to the older sister he never met.

Simon Reuter, now aged 51, was born with a heart defect, and needed life-saving open heart surgery when he was just four years old.

But despite lifelong health problems associated with his condition, he has never held back, and has always lived life to the fullest possible.

Now he has written a book about his experiences and the forces that drove him, hoping to inspire young people facing difficult health issues.

And he says he owes it all to his older sister Sally, who was also born with the same condition.

Simon told the Voice: “All my life I have personally felt a debt to Sally.

"She had the same heart condition as I have. She was a forerunner to what I had and she died, and so I have a debt to her.”

Sally was born in 1966, and was diagnosed as having 'transposition of the great arteries', which meant the arteries connecting her heart had developed incorrectly.

In his book Simon writes that when she was three years old, Sally was admitted to hospital for heart surgery to correct the defect. She died three days later.

He said: “Mum and Dad never got over Sally’s death. There were pictures of Sally up on the walls at home, and I always believed that Sally was spoken about within the family.

“Personally, I owe Sally very much; everything I write, and a lot of what I do in this book, has an element of thanks to and inspiration from her.”

Simon was born later in the same year Sally died, in 1971, and to his parents' horror he was also diagnosed with TGA.

When he reached four, doctors decided to carry out the eight-hour operation needed to correct his heart defect – the same operation that Sally had.

He said: “Mum broke down into tears, not because I was going to finally have the surgery I needed, but because on that day, five years earlier, Sally had died.”

Simon’s surgery was a success, and despite other related health issues, he has been able to live a busy and active life, living in Henfield, and going to the Manor School in Coalpit Heath and the Ridings in Winterbourne.

He said: “I continued to be treated the same as my healthy brothers. My parents continued to encourage me to go out and play, climb trees, play football, and even occasionally fight with, my brothers and friends.

“I was encouraged to explore my world and not let my cardiac condition limit what I wanted to do. And I never have, thanks to my mum, dad and brothers.”

Simon went on to become a children's nurse and then an adolescent mental health nurse, and moved to Bristol.

His book, What is Life without Risk? is a series of autobiographical stories centred around the difficulties and struggles of a young person growing up with health conditions.

It focuses on how Simon chose to push past those limitations and live his life to the full, having travelled on the Trans-Siberian railway, bungee jumped in New Zealand and gone skydiving.

Simon said: “My parents never held me back and never wrapped me in cotton wool.

"Yes I have missed out on some things – but I want to encourage others to do like me and push the boundaries.

"I hope it will give any teenager facing difficulties an insight, and some hope."

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