Adam Konkol is one of the longest-living people with Eisenmenger syndrome in the world. It is a group of congenital heart defects that lead to the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is estimated that approximately one thousand patients suffer from it in Poland.
“I was born with a congenital heart defect and the disease – accompanied by pulmonary arterial hypertension – has been with me since I was a child. The survival rate with this disease used to be 2 to 3 years, I have lived for 44 years and each subsequent day is a bonus for me,” he said. 2019 founder of the band Tears.
Although at one point the disease confined him to bed, everything changed thanks to modern drugs. “The therapy with the pills I take affects my life enormously. A person who is bedridden and cannot do anything suddenly gets up, can work professionally, can enjoy life – that is the difference. It is not delicate, it is changing your whole life,” he said then.
“I don't really know where to start. I'm very happy, and physically I'm at the top of my game. I'm fulfilled and free. Some people already know, and others will find out from this post. I have malignant lung cancer, I know, strange, I don't smoke and I don't I smoked cigarettes, but apparently that happens sometimes,” Konkol said in his latest post on social media.
“I've had several consultations and 'normally', if I didn't have a heart defect, they would just cut out a piece of my lung and maybe it would be over, but you can't. You can't undergo chemotherapy, which would simply kill me, but you can 'shoot' it with rays and that's the plan,” he explained.
“The normal question is 'how many years do I have left?', in my opinion about 58 years, because my plan to live to at least 106 years has not changed. It's just that who knows me knows… I have survived not so bad situations, so When you meet me in three years, don't ask 'what is he still doing here?', because I will simply beat him like a mini cold,” he added.