Rehab miracle: 'Angels made me whole again'

He calls them "the miracle gang" – a team of angels who inspired him to look forward with hope after decades of ill health.

Shubroto Bhattacharjee required coronary bypass surgery in late 2022, having survived a near-fatal heart attack nearly 45 years ago.

He spent two months in rehabilitation at Epworth Camberwell in Melbourne, where his wife is now recovering from a recent knee replacement.

"Those angels resurrected me; they made me whole again. I became a human being with aspirations once again," said the 76-year-old, who completed his rehab in April 2023.

Mr Bhattacharjee said the Epworth Camberwell team had helped him learn that physical problems could be overcome despite inherited genetics – his parents both had heart disease.

"Yet I chose to be stupid. I smoked up to 40 cigarettes a day, I was grossly overweight, had a rotten diet and a high-stress job," he said.

Mr Bhattacharjee made major changes after suffering "the fright of my life" in 1981 – he stopped smoking, lost weight, changed his diet and his job – but decided against an angiogram scan because he was "terrified" by the prospect of bypass surgery.

Over the years he became increasingly breathless, despite medication to help his heart condition, and tests showed his left artery was completely blocked and the right artery was heavily calcified with only 40 percent capacity.

"I had lost confidence and the will to live. Driving and travelling had become nightmares. Fear dogged my every footstep," said Mr Bhattacharjee, who had his open-heart surgery at Epworth HealthCare's Richmond hospital.

He described Epworth Camberwell's Chronic Disease Program Coordinator, Jo Kevill, as his "chief angel".

"Jo asked about my goals. I felt like someone cared, that I was in the right hands," he said.

His eight weeks of rehab at the hospital – where his son Shom is a consultant physician and rheumatologist – included gym work and intensive health education.

"I learnt that our problems were not insoluble, they could be fixed provided I worked out what caused it. I learnt what to do and not to do to prevent recurrence," Mr Bhattacharjee said.

"I learnt about the roles of diet and exercise, psychology, physical therapy, every aspect. I took copious notes at each session.

"I didn't do very well at the gym at first. It taxed and exercised every bit of my being. At the end of the eight weeks, they showed me what I had achieved compared to day one. It was a shocking transformation.

"I wasn't breathless anymore and, most importantly, I wasn't frightened anymore."

Mr Bhattacharjee said going back to the Epworth Camberwell gym with his wife Nandita this year felt like returning to old friends.

"They are a miracle gang, the whole lot of them," he said.

Mrs Bhattacharjee is due to complete her knee rehab at the end of May, in time for the retired couple to celebrate 51 years of marriage.

They hope to spend the rest of their lives in the best of health, enjoying being with their family – thanks to the 'angels' at Epworth Camberwell.

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