Clarke Bayles was 25 years old when he was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, an autoimmune disease that attacks the liver.
He was an active young man and didn’t have any medical problems, but one day, after buzzing his hair, he noticed a few small bald patches. Concerned, he went to see his doctor, who recommended he have some blood work done.
“They called me the next day and said, ‘You gotta come back in,’” he said.
“It took a while to figure out.”
Bayles was sent to a hepatologist who monitored him for a short while before diagnosing him with primary sclerosing cholangitis. After the diagnosis, Bayles remembers not being too worried about the whole thing. He wasn’t showing any symptoms, he didn’t feel any different, it was as if nothing had changed.
“And even then they said, ‘You might not ever need a transplant, you might need a transplant when you’re 60, but it progressed faster than anybody expected it would,” he said.
At 29, Bayles took a turn for the worst. He got very sick very quickly and a transplant was inevitable.
“It was like no big deal until I did start losing weight and retaining water, and then when I went quite jaundiced, maybe six months before my transplant, … and people would notice it in my eyes and that’s when I really became aware of it and sort of self-conscious of it too,” he said.
Two weeks before his wedding, Bayles was put on the transplant list. He was on that list for about 16 weeks and then shortly after his 30th birthday, he received a life-saving liver transplant.
“I just really nosedived. I was relatively young, and I still had some health, and they just wanted to get me transplanted before I deteriorated anymore,” he said.
After 21 days in hospital (longer than normal because of complications), Bayles was home and ready to get moving. He eventually found himself on a bike again, out for a gentle ride with his wife. From there it snowballed, he said.
“I got into cycling after I had my transplant just as a way to regain some fitness, and then I sort of rekindled my interest,” he said. “I’m kind of a competitive person so it kind of satisfied that. Every year it’s been ratcheting up.”
In 2012, he started riding regularly, and he hasn’t stopped. He’s biked 60,000 kilometres in the last six years. He rides to work every day (he’s an instructor at BCIT), and last week he competed in two cycling races at the 2018 Canadian Transplant Games.
“You go there to be around people who’ve had similar experiences in life,” he said.
This year’s games were held at UBC from July 2 to 7, with more than 300 transplant recipients and donors from across the country facing off in a variety of competitions. Bayles won gold in both his races.
“I feel I’ve been very fortunate, and maybe I would be a slightly better cyclist if I hadn’t had the transplant, but I’m hanging in there as it is,” he said.
Burnaby's got talent:
Local residents on Team B.C.:
- Clarke Bayles, liver recipient
- Stewart Lee, kidney recipient
- Elizabeth Black, kidney recipient
- Shirley Chung, kidney recipient
