A Manxman living in Melbourne has spoken about his lifelong battle with a rare heart condition that has shaped every stage of his life.

Victor Wiggins was born in the Isle of Man and grew up in the south of the island before moving abroad in 2003.

He first relocated to New Zealand for work, where he met his wife Susan, and later moved with her to Australia when his company relocated. The couple have remained there ever since.

Their 15-year-old son has fully embraced Australian life, in contrast to Victor’s Manx upbringing.

Now 55, Victor is well known in off-road motorcycling and cycling circles and has long enjoyed an active lifestyle.

Few, however, would know that he was the first child in the British Isles to survive a 12-hour operation for a rare and complex heart defect.

He has now secured a publishing deal with Wilkinson Publishing in Melbourne to tell his story.

Victor was diagnosed at birth with T-GAD (transposition of the great arteries), a serious condition that led to him being flown off-island shortly after birth to the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital. After five months awaiting surgery, he underwent a pioneering 12-hour procedure on February 5, 1971, using what was known as the Mustard technique.

The operation was successful, and he returned home at seven months old.

His medical challenges continued through childhood and adulthood, with frequent setbacks, appointments and ongoing monitoring. In recent years his heart began to fail. Between 2022 and 2023 he was taken to hospital by ambulance 25 times. After extensive assessments by medical specialists, Victor was approved for the heart transplant waiting list. Recovery from such major surgery can be long and demanding, and Victor has spoken about the patience and determination required to rebuild strength afterwards.

He spent 364 days on the list before undergoing the open-heart surgery that transformed his life.

Speaking about the period leading up to his transplant, Victor said: ‘I’d always had this sort of life where, although I knew I had a heart condition, it didn’t really affect me, not much. And then one day it did. My life just changed for the worse, almost overnight.’

He said the emotional impact was severe. After opening up to a school friend who had written about her own experience of trauma, he was encouraged to write for himself. ‘She said, “You were quite good at English, why don’t you write a book?”, just from a cathartic perspective,’ he recalled.

‘My first reaction was, don’t be so ridiculous, nobody wants to read a book about me. She said, “You don’t do it for that. You do it for yourself.” I thought that was a decent idea.’

Victor’s book is due to be released in Australia next February, on the anniversary of his transplant. He plans to return to the island for next year’s TT to see old friends, meet new ones and mark the UK release.