Comedian opens up about heart failure as he highlights organ donor issue

Comedian Emmanuel Sonubi has opened up about the time he suffered heart failure on stage.

The stand-up started struggling for breath while performing stand-up in Dubai, but continued his set – and even flew home before the full seriousness of what happened hit home.

Now he has used those experiences as the background for a new Radio 4 show about organ donation, exploring how people from ethnic minorities are more likely to die while on the waiting list because of a lack of donors.

Speaking on the programme, Dying For A Transplant,  he explained:‘The biggest fear for many comedians is to die on stage, stood in front of an audience with nobody laughing, and in 2019 I very nearly literally died on stage.’

‘I didn't know it at the time, but doctors would later tell me that I had experienced heart failure. I was diagnosed with having a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, or DCM, which basically means that the muscle walls in my heart are thinner than they should be. 

‘My heart decided that it was going to stop pumping oxygenated blood around my body, and I went into heart failure on stage. 

‘All of a sudden, I just couldn't breathe. It took all of my energy to get out each word. Funnily enough, actually made the joke better because the timing was better.’

He joked: ‘Plus, at that point, I was writing my debut Edinburgh show, and I'd only got to 40 minutes, and I couldn't the life of me think of anything. So when this happened, I was like, "yes! I've got this." And it became part of the show.’

However, the health issues were serious. ‘I couldn't sleep that night, because every time I lay down, my lungs and my heart would just stop working,’ he explained. ‘It wouldn't pump at all. 

‘Then I got the flight home. And luckily enough, I was actually sat next to two paramedics who were like, "He's not OK, he needs oxygen". And I do think it's because of them that I didn't die on the plane.

‘Then from the airport, went to A&E, still thinking, "I'm going to get some pills and I'll be fine." I get to A&E tell them my symptoms I was in the ICU within the hour, and they were like, "You are a lot sicker than you think you are". 

‘The hard part was I didn't present in a way that would have suggested heart failure because my heart function was so bad, they couldn't figure out why I was able to sit up, let alone talk.’

Another plus is that the incident reduced his stage fright. On the show, he tells producer Kurt Brookes: ’I still get nervous, and my brain will go, "what's the worst that can happen?" And then I giggle, because I know.’

He added: ‘Finding out that you might need a transplant was bad enough, but it gets worse when you find out you can have a much longer wait for an available organ because of the colour of your skin.’ 

People from ethnic minority backgrounds make up around 18 per cent of the country’s population but represent over a third of people on the transplant waiting list. That means that if you’re not white you will have a longer wait for a viable organ and are more likely to die in the process.

In the show Sonubi speaks  to Goodness Gracious Me star Nina Wadia, who has a family history of organ transplantation, and  Sarah Olney MP, who chairs an All Party Parliamentary Group about the lack of donors from ethnic minorities.

The comic  says: ‘This is a really important issue that needs to be spoken about more and I’ve been very fortunate to have such a great team at [production company] Made In Manchester behind me to help get this message out there.’

Brookes added: ‘It was great working with Emmanuel again and although the subject matter is hard-hitting, life-and-death stuff,  we’ve made a programme that doesn’t lecture the listener.’

• Dying For A Transplant is now available on BBC Sounds

Published: 14 Jul 2024