Young entrepreneur: 'My failing heart and lungs will not stop our wedding'

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A YOUNG entrepreneur who took inspiration from his incurable disease to start a business helping other sufferers has been given the devastating news that his lungs and heart are failing.
Doctors have warned recently-engaged Dan Male, 29, that he will have to undergo a transplant or his heart could fail within 12 months.
Dan makes Joey Pouches, which carry and conceal vital medical equipment to help the wearer feel more confident.
He developed the idea after having problems with the cumbersome pump which feeds drugs directly to his heart to keep him alive.
After seeing his Joey Pouch idea take off last year and preparing to marry his girlfriend of nearly four years, Kayleigh Sweet, the news was a major setback.
He had heart palpitations while Christmas shopping in Truro in December and his health continued to decline. Now tests will establish whether he needs a heart and lung, or just a lung transplant – but says in either case the news has left him "upset, disappointed and angry.
"I don't mind having the operation; it's the inconvenience with the wedding and business that's annoying," he said.
"I'm in the frame of mind that I want to do everything I can before May, just in case I don't make it."
Plans
The couple are flying to Cyprus in May to finalise their wedding plans. When they return Dan, of Goonhavern, will be put on the transplant list and wait for the call.
He was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, more commonly known as heart and lung disease, nine years ago, and doctors gave him 12 months to live, but medical trials and new technologies have left him able, at times, to live a normal life.
Kayleigh, 24, a hairdresser and beauty student from Perranporth, said: "Obviously he's worried about having the transplant, but if he doesn't have it his heart could fail and he might not be here next May."
The couple met in Truro nightclub L2 and Danhas proposed three times – each time with a slight hitch.
Kayleigh said: "The fact that the engagement never went smoothly means I'm not surprised that the wedding isn't either."
She herself has Crohn's disease, which affects the bowel. "People I've been out with in the past don't really understand my illness, but Dan and I both understand each other," she said. "It gets really hard if we're ill at the same time, but we cope."
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