Port Talbot: Why heart surgery prompted man to skip honeymoon

Dai Jones climbed Mount Toubkal in Morocco after recovering from heart surgery

Life-saving cardiac surgery prompted Dai Jones to follow his heart but one bucket list task meant a delay to his honeymoon.

Dai Jones ended up flying to north Africa to climb the area's highest mountain just two days after marrying bride Rachel.

The couple from Port Talbot could only find dates within days of both events.

But they agreed to delay their honeymoon to Naples, Italy, for him to climb Mount Toubkal in Morocco.

He also raised £1,100 for the cardiac intensive care unit at Swansea's Morriston Hospital which looked after him.

"They saved my life and I just wanted to give something back," he said.

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The swimming pool engineer said he has always kept fit but his life changed dramatically when he went for a run during the Covid lockdown in 2020.

"I'd only gone about a quarter of a mile up the road and I couldn't breathe properly," the father of three said.

Doctors detected a heart murmur and a further appointment was planned.

But he awoke one morning and "something just didn't feel right".

Dai Jones with wife Rachel and daughters Poppy, Erin and Evie

Tests showed an aortic aneurism which can be life-threatening so surgery was planned for three days later.

However, an echocardiogram heart scan showed an emergency operation was required at Morriston's Cardiac Centre.

Dai recalled how staff told him his wife was being allowed to see him.

However, he knew no visitors were being allowed into hospitals during lockdown "unless it was to say goodbye".

"That put everything into perspective," he added.

Consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Aprim Youhana removed the aneurism and found and replaced a defective valve, undiscovered since birth.

But two months later Dai developed an infection, and spent three weeks in Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.

"After all that was done, Rachel said 'you almost died twice in the last couple of months'," recalled Dai.

"'If there's anything you want to do in life, you need to go and do it. You don't know what's around the corner'."

As well as the wedding, Dai decided to climb Mount Toubkal.

"At the end I was delighted with myself because I did it," added Dai who has since ticked another item off his bucket list by joining Port Talbot Cymric Choir as a second tenor.

"They have lost so many since Covid hit and they are on the look-out to get more members into their ranks," he said.